According to Facebook, not as much as there used to be. Vanity figures have long been a mainstay of a businesses social media metrics (whether you agree with the value of them or not), but now “reactions” are worth more in the eyes of Facebook than the humble thumbs up.
On average, less than 10% of a Business Page’s followers will see a post that they make.
Facebook decides what makes a post relevant to a specific user based on an algorithm that is powered by machine learning (or to use a more popular phrase these days: artificial intelligence). As a result, you need to please Facebook’s machine in order to get your posts seen by more people.
However, machines are still pretty dumb, so they need to be guided by their human masters. And it seems the team at Facebook have decided that “reactions” are more valuable than “likes”. If your post garners more reactions from your followers, it’s now more likely that their connections and your other followers will be shown your posts.
So, how do you generate reactions for your business? Make them feel it!
Facebook allows six reactions: Love, Care, Haha, Wow, Sad and Angry. Is your content making people feel any of those emotions?
Guide people on the reaction that you want them to have. People have an extremely small attention span on Facebook, but a reaction is a painless way to engage with a post. Sharing something funny? Add “Does this make you laugh?”. Sharing something inspirational? Add “How amazing is this!”.
Most importantly – experiment and find your own ways to get people to engage with your content.
