We have an epic battle going down tonight on Facebook.
With over 845 million active users, the Facebook fans are alive tonight. Surrounding both sides of the arena we have uploaded and tagged photos to statuses multiplying every minute. We have the display ads on standby tracking the two fighters’ every move and Facebook Insights analyzing who is throwing what hit.
And out come our two fighters…
In one corner we have the Like at about a half a centimeter in height always carrying a swift click. We can’t forget the most important factor distinguishable to the like and that’s his invincible thumbs up.
And in the other corner at about the same height, we have the Share. With some more context and relevancy to pages, this guys holds a sticky blow on timelines.
Each have their own strengths, but in tonight’s battle the one holding heavier significance will come out victorious in this social media branding.
There’s a lot at stake, so let’s begin this showdown…
The Like comes out quickly with it’s one hit wonder. The thumb just keeps popping with the insane amount of clicks the Like can produce. It just takes one short motion from the user for the Like to take the strong hold on this battle.
Taking a helpful glance at what propels a Like we can see according to Facebook that “Clicking Like under something you or a friend posts on Facebook is an easy way to let someone know that you enjoy it, without leaving a comment. Just like a comment though, the fact that you liked it is noted beneath the item.”
And with those rapid throws it seems that the Share is down. Resting after the Like after content is displayed, it takes a little more energy for a user to fuel the Share.
Sharing content on Facebook - “There’s a Share link under content people post that you can share, like links and photos. You can use this link when you see something interesting and you want others to see it.”
Time out!
What does that even mean to your brand’s Facebook page? Is it better to get rapid fire likes or for users to share your content on their newsfeed or timeline?
It’s clear that one progresses through sheer quantity, while the other, as long as it has relevant quality, could have some leverage too.
Wait! It seems the Share is back up with the weightiness of content on its side. It may take several more clicks for the Share to strike, but man does it have extension.
I think it’s becoming a little more clear who could win this fight…
Although, it seems that the Like has more prevalence in that its recognizable thumbs up goes synonymously with Mr. Zuckerburg’s machine, the Share has some weighty significance to your brand’s content. Even though they may take different jabs at each other, both “likes” and “shares” go interchangeably with each other. If you want a large, quick audience, you want the Like on your team; however, if you want your content marketed at a more amplified scale, you would want the Share on your side. With over 3.5 billion pieces of content shared on Facebook, there is a huge shift to the Share.
Taking a look at these fighters on the statistics of their best punches, Samantha Murphy from Mashable tells us the variation between the two, especially with content. The throws from the Like seem like they are all over the place and “posts that are either very short or long tended to have a higher like percentage.” However, its consistent with the Share and “long posts tended to get more share
via Mashable (full infographic here)
When a customer likes something it give the brand recognition and shows that the customer/user aligns themselves with you. Likes to your page to hold resonance in that they do display justified numbers in how many people are capable in interacting with you.
It seems the sharing comes after; however, users sharing the content that you communicate to them does show importance if carried across well. Initially you may be projecting your content on your Facebook timeline to your fans, but there is a vast wealth of sharing that could potentially happen.
Imagine if you posted content to your Facebook timeline, then an adoring fan enjoys that content, hits the share button to post it on their own timeline. Now this user could have 10 friends or 1,000; regardless, there is an exponential increase on the visibility of your content if a fan of your brand shares your content.
This just in! It looks like another fighter has entered into the arena! What is this…it look likes it’s name is Content. Wow, this Content guy is taking out both the Like and Share in one fell swoop.
You could easily rack up thousands of likes and hundreds could share what you are saying, but great content ultimately reigns what is marketable on your Facebook page. No user is going to Like or Share anything on your page if you don’t have good content on your page in the first place.
After seeing these fighters throw entirely different strikes at each other, it’s clear that this showdown is one to determine what works for you and the triumphal content you must produce on your Facebook page.
If you liked this post, you might like our MARKETING MAVEN’S GUIDE TO FACEBOOK for insights into the best times to post and best practices for word count, Calls-to-Action, punctuation, and more.