How to use Facebook Reactions to get noticed more

It’s been over a year since Facebook introduced “reactions” to us as an addition form of expression beyond just “liking” something.

They explained to us that they would each given the same value as a "like":

"In the beginning, it won’t matter if someone likes, “wows” or “sads” a post — we will initially use any Reaction similar to a Like to infer that you want to see more of that type of content. Over time we hope to learn how the different Reactions should be weighted differently by News Feed to do a better job of showing everyone the stories they most want to see." - Sammi Krug, Facebook Product Manager.

Now they are saying:

"Over the past year we've found that if people leave a Reaction on a post, it is an even stronger signal that they'd want to see that type of post than if they left a Like on the post. So we are updating News Feed to weigh reactions a little more than Likes when taking into account how relevant the story is to each person."

Reactions are in fact on the rise

Studies conducted by a marketing research company discovered that reactions were on the rise despite only representing 6% of the total interactions on Facebook. The “traditional” like was also found to be in decline.

The study was surmised:

"Facebook Reactions are a highly valuable feature for social media marketers since engagement with a post is one of the most important elements of linking customers to a brand."

What does this mean for your business?

The bottom line. It is more important than ever to get your fans to react to your post - more Reactions should hopefully generate improved reach for your posts.

Note: all reactions are equal.

For example, if your business is out to shock or wow, Facebook will consider this the same as love and laugh.

Now, if your social media isn’t orientated to provoking extreme emotion, there are alternate solutions around this.

You can simply ask your audience to react to a relatable questions. For instance, a question in your industry which you would normally poll and ask them to answer using a reaction.

Then there’s video…

Although I've shown image post examples above, if anything, video posts + reactions could be where the most striking benefits are to be found.

In the same, it was noted above, they found that videos received a massive 60% more reactions than image posts.

They explained why this might be the case:

"For the consumer, images are easier and most of all faster to digest. Thus a “quick” interaction is stirred. When users spend more time watching a video, the brand message or information can be communicated in a more precise way than in an image. After watching the video, users seem to have a greater propensity for taking more time to express their feelings in a more detailed way by selecting a reaction and not by simply clicking the like-button."

In short, don't forget to drive reactions in video posts, too.

Do you need help fine-tuning your social media and create a bigger impact?

Feel free to contact me for a coffee or a skype. Let's talk.

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