Facebook Introduces the Like Button In Place of Fans – So What Does this Mean for your Business?

The Great Gold Rush for Fans Has Dried Up

Gaining Facebook fans has become a quest for more and more corporations – a quest fueled by bigger budgets and bigger amounts of time spent creating strategies and campaigns meant to build more populated fan pages. The bandwagon is filling up as everyday new fan success stories emerge, and everyday another executive becomes sold on the medium. Everybody is happy, it seems. Everybody, that is, except Facebook.

"Don’t Fan Me, Bro"

The "Like." Welcome, to the new reality of Facebook, at least until Facebook changes its mind again. No longer are there "Fans." Instead, people can now choose to "Like" brands, products, services, etc. Where you once saw "xx,xxx Fans" on a fan page, you now see "xx,xxx People Like This," and where you once saw "xx Friends Are Fans," you now see "xx Friends Like This."

Okay. So why is this Important?

Good question. Is this simply a case of semantics? Facebook’s own language for users states "we hope this action will feel much more lightweight, and that it will increase the number of connections made across the site." So Facebook believes becoming a fan was too heavy of a burden, and that by allowing you to simply "Like " something, you find it a lot easier to like more things. This begs the question: are some folks overreacting to this change, and should “lighten up” from their knee-jerk reaction themselves? After all, what you call people who follow your page doesn’t change the fact that these people are following your page.

So we Should Just Learn to "Like" It?

Basically, yes. Despite all the money and time businesses have spent trying to attract people formerly known as "fans" to their pages, Facebook still owns and controls Facebook. Meaning they can change the rules all they want, and it’s up to you whether or not you want to keep playing their game. And you probably will, seeing that over 450 million people "Like" Facebook.

About BGT Partners
BGT Partners is one of the oldest and most award-winning independent interactive marketing agencies in the world. Through best-in-class strategy, visual design and technical expertise, BGT helps companies strengthen their brand and business relationships. As a Microsoft Gold Partner, Omniture Fusion Certified Partner and SharePoint consultancy, BGT counts among its clients such Fortune 500 companies as Office Depot, FedEx, Sony, Carnival Cruise Lines, Kaplan University, ADP, ADT, Darden Restaurants, Tupperware and Florida Power & Light, among others. BGT was identified by Forrester Research as the sole digital agency offering B2B Services across multiple industries, has earned the reputation as one of the Global 2000's foremost professional services firms and is the only agency to be involved in the design of multiple websites in BtoB Magazine's 2009 10 Great B-to-B Sites special report. For more information on BGT Partners, please visit www.bgtpartners.com and www.facebook.com/bgtpartners.

Contact
Elyse Hoed
BGT Partners
305-438-1800 x225
ehoed@bgtpartners.com

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