Most of us would rather be liked than not. And, in business, it can mean the difference between having customers and having trouble paying the bills. (Okay, it helps to have a great product, killer customer service, and a bunch of other things too.) We’re human; we like to do business with people we like.
In other words, likability matters. But “Likes”? Not so much.
Marcus Sheridan wrote a terrific blog post recently about 10 misleading social media metrics. In it, he mentioned an article on fiberglass pool problems and solutions that garnered four likes and one tweet. He wrote:
“If you guessed this article has been read over 60,000 times and produced hundreds of thousands in sales… then you’re right. Notwithstanding, most folks will look at these 4 likes and 1 tweet and think the article is a failure.
I don’t know about you, but I’ll take hundreds of thousands in sales any day of the week over a few social media numbers I’ll never, ever be able to take to the bank on Fridays.”
Getting tweets, likes, and shares is easy. Just tie your posts to Kim Kardashian and her ilk. Or write an endless stream of list posts. Or join Triberr.
Don’t get me wrong: I’m always happy (and grateful) when you tweet, like, or otherwise share something I’ve written here. But in and of itself this data doesn’t mean a whole lot.
While social recognition is good for the ego, at the end of the day sales is what will keep you in business.
Photo by Shaire Productions (Flickr).
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Thank you! Have thought this for ages. Reminds me of other Internet stats over the years… They didn’t go to the bank either!
One of my all-time favourite blog posts by Neal Schaffer is his (fairly recent) “I Blog for Content, Not for Comments. Surprised?” http://windmillnetworking.com/2012/04/02/i-blog-for-content-not-for-comments-surprised/
I agree with his sentiments. It’s also a reason I enjoy contributing to his blog (on public relations and social media) because it really is more of a “long-tail” resource, rather than a flash-in-the-pan Liked or blog-commenting community regarding “hot” topics of the day (which are forgotten by the next week).
Well, I do like to get comments.
But counting them as a metric in and of itself is silly–unless, of course, you’re selling pay-per-view.
Thanks for that link, Judy. Enjoyed reading Schaffer’s comments, which align with ours (why we’re .info, not .com).
Agreed, Daria. Why companies waste marketing money on it is beyond me!