Facebook likes vs. followers: What’s the difference, and which matters more?

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Facebook likes vs. followers
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Facebook Likes

Clicking the Like button below a post/video on Facebook is a way to let users know that you find the content entertaining without leaving a comment. In the same way, in which anyone can see that you have left a comment, other users can also see like posts.

For example, when you click Like on a friend’s or acquaintance’s post:

  • People who can see the video will be able to know that you liked it.
  • The person who posted the footage gets notified when you like it.

When you like something, this lets us show you other content you’d also like to see.

Facebook enabled the like button on the social networking website on February 9, 2009. The like button allows users to interact easily with status upgrades, comments, photos and videos, links concerted by or with friends, and commercials. Once clicked by a user, the delegated content pops up in the News Feeds of that user’s friends or followers, and the button also shows the number of other users who have liked the content, also involving a full or restricted list of those individuals. The like button was expanded to comments in June 2010.

The like button is one of Facebook’s social factors, in which the switch can be placed on other intermediary sites. Using these forms centres around a form of a commercial network, in which it gathers knowledge and interests of the user or what particular websites the user visits or what they enjoy. This form of assistance, an online indicator, has been significantly condemned for confidentiality. Privacy picket associations have urged Facebook to put an end to its data collection through plug-in servers, and governments have initiated investigations into the procurance for feasible privacy law violations. Facebook has assured the users and made a statement that it anonymizes the insights. The collected data is automatically deleted after three months and is not shared or sold to any third parties.

Facebook Likes
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Facebook Followers

When someone says follow your Page, it means that they may get updates about your Page in their Feed.

Remember that at any time someone likes your Page, they automatically follow it, which is added to your total number of Page followers in Page Insights.

To see insights about your Page’s followers:

  • From your Feed, click Pages found at the left menu. You may need to click See More first.
  • Go to your Page.
  • Go to the left menu, click on Insights.
  • Click Followers.

Now you can see information on Page followers and people who unfollowed over the course of time and where your Page followers happen the most.

To learn more about the people who follow your Page:

  • From your Feed, click Pages on the left menu. You may need to click See More first.
  • Go to your Page.
  • Check the left menu, click Insights.
  • Click People, then Your Followers at the apex.

From here, you can see info about the sex, age, country, city, state, and language of your Page’s followers.

Facebook followers prefer to “follow” your account or Page which means they will receive updates of yours wherever they open the app.

So, how to get followers on Facebook? The most familiar way is when people click the “like” button on your Page, as per the default settings of Facebook, they also become followers. This is also right for personal pages; when somebody becomes your friend, he or she automatically follows you.

Facebook friends: in the earlier days

In the old days of Facebook, if you were friends with someone, you would see their posts, and if you weren’t friends, you wouldn’t see their posts in your Feed.

Things transformed when Facebook presented the subscribe feature, letting users follow others’ accounts without becoming friends. However, in 2013, Facebook updated this concept, and what was once called “subscribers” converted to “followers.”

Facebook Followers
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How the Facebook page likes, followers, and friends are different?

Before we delve into which number holds more significance, it’s crucial to grasp the distinction between Likes and Followers on Facebook.

  • A Like signifies someone who has decided to express their support for your profile as a fan.
  • On the other hand, a follower is an individual who prefers to receive updates on your post in his or her news timelines, though this is the theme of the Facebook algorithm.

It’s important to note that these two actions are independent of each other. A person who Likes your page may opt to unfollow, indicating that, for instance, your mom might like your Page simply because it’s yours but choose not to follow if she isn’t interested in your posts. Similarly, someone might follow the Page to receive content but decide not to publicly associate their name with the Page.

When someone Likes a new Page, the default includes both following and Liking, but the choice to unfollow and/or follow without Liking is entirely up to the user.

Originally, Facebook was designed for users to connect and be friends online. The idea was to build personal relationships through the platform.

When Facebook introduced Pages, it added a more impersonal aspect. This made sense for places, businesses, and other entities that aren’t people. As a User, you can “like” a Page, but you can’t turn out to be friends with it. For example, you can “like” the Wall Street Journal’s Page, but you can’t be friends with it.

Followers are individuals who choose to get updates from a page or person. The key thing is that “following” is different from the other relationships. Users can follow a Page without “liking” it, and they can “like” a Page without choosing to follow its updates. This applies to friends too. You can find how the “Following” and “Friends” buttons are distinct.

Which holds more significance: Facebook likes or followers?

Which holds more significance: Facebook Followers or Likes?

In our marketing agency, we prioritize Facebook Followers over Likes. This is because we consider Facebook to be a platform for engagement, and the key to capturing people’s interest lies in them seeing your content. If you boast 90,000 Likes on your Facebook page but only have 900 Followers, your content won’t effectively reach a substantial audience.

The crucial factors to consider when comparing Likes and Followers are twofold:

  • Consistent Growth: It’s essential that both Likes and Followers increase over time, not decrease.
  • Maintaining the Gap: The gap or breach between Followers and Likes should not widen over time. A growing gap suggests a loss of audience, which is undesirable in any situation.

In essence, the goal is to see continual growth in your fan base, with people not only liking your page but also choosing to follow you. When the gap between these numbers expands, it indicates a loss of audience, which is not a favourable outcome.

Given a choice, Followers hold more significance as they represent individuals who still have the possibility to see your post. In contrast, those who have opted to unfollow have explicitly preferred not to engage with your updates.

Like many a time is a self-propelling follow, but the opposite is not always true. Users can follow a page and not like the posts. You can also like a page and unfollow it; it just means you will stop receiving its updates and content in your Feed, but the brand can still show up as a like in your About section, and they can still use your name and profile picture.

 Total follower count is a strong signal of the absolute amount of users who find your content entertaining and love seeing your content popping up in their feeds, which is why the Facebook matrices track follower count at MIT(Massachusetts Institute of Technology).

To be precise, liking a Facebook page or post is basically a public display of support while following a Facebook page directly indicates the interest the users receive from your content.

The paramount factor is engagement – how actively your audience interacts with your content. Whether you have 100,000 Followers or Likes, it becomes insignificant if they aren’t genuinely reading, retaining, and engaging with your content.

Post Level Engagement Rate (PLER) = Number of Engagements (the number of people are engaging with your content)/ Reach (the number of people are seeing your post)

(Therefore, this represents the number of people who are taking action among all the people who saw your post)

If you want to get both, then you can take the aid of FBPostLikes, which delivers Facebook likes and followers from the accounts that are active and real. You can grow more with the help of it.

Wrapping up

Facebook likes, and followers play an important role in the overall growth of a Facebook account.