The Importance of Facebook Reactions

We could talk about Facebook for hours, especially when it comes to businesses and brand building. Facebook continues to be the dominant platform for Millennials, GenX and Baby Boomers alike, which continues to make it a must in the world of social media marketing. Previously, users interacted with Facebook posts through comments and likes.  Now, Facebook has Reactions.  These Reactions, revealed over a year ago, range from Love, Haha, Wow, Sad or Angry. Why even mention these when discussing brand building on Facebook… because maximizing these Reactions can help augment your Facebook reach.

Facebook wants the first posts that comes across your news feed to be the ones that they believe will prompt engagement from you.  Reactions tend to indicate a stronger engagement with a post then the traditional Facebook like since they allow users to express how they feel in relation to the post.  Next time you are on your personal news feed, note the time stamp of the posts you scroll past. The new algorithm put out by Facebook is rewarding posts that get more Reactions and ultimately places them higher on your news feed. These five Reactions are all weighed equally, and if you can capitalize on them your post will get a slight edge in the Facebook news feed rankings.

In brand building and expanding your corporate reach, the Facebook algorithm ranking is one variable that you should keep in mind. Drafting posts that elicit Reactions as opposed to mere likes, will ultimately result in a much higher news feed ranking which will in turn generate further exposure.

So next time before you hit ‘post’, take a moment to ask yourself, would this inspire me to react… or continue to scroll.

#inspiringsocialmedia

Refreshing Your LinkedIn ProfileUnderstanding Your Social Media Audience