With the imminent release of Facebook’s Reactions, it’s important for marketers to consider a change in their approach to social media marketing. With this new ability to choose “like,” “love,” “haha,” “yay,” “wow,” “sad,” or “angry” as a response to a post, many elements will change in conjunction to the type of post and the emotional response it elicits. Here are some of those elements that are bound to change once Facebook launches this “like” button extension.
Algorithm
Facebook’s Reactions may very well change the algorithm and display posts based on which reaction was chosen. Initially, when considering at least five of the seven options are generally positive responses, it appears that it could serve as a boost for certain posts that would have typically been neglected on the newsfeed. However, this change does pose a question for what happens to the posts that receive the “sad” or “angry” response. Whether or not the intent of the post was to evoke a sad or angry reaction, Facebook’s algorithm may see it as a negative one regardless and choose to display the post less. This becomes a challenge for Facebook to decide if any or all reactions are considered positive engagement, in which they would increase the visibility of the post or if certain reactions are negative and need to be shown less. Will Facebook want to continuously show a post receiving the “angry” reaction?
Advertisements
With additional insights on the emotions of the consumer being offered to businesses with the Facebook Reactions, the price for advertisements or boosting a post may rise. In addition to paying for the amount of reaches the post acquires, a business would be paying for potential feedback and make this advertising option a greater benefit. The more beneficial these options become for businesses, the more reason Facebook has for increasing the cost of them.
Engagement
Reactions could open the door to another avenue for engagement and present an easier way for consumers to voice their opinion. As opposed to only having a like button as well as the option of commenting or sharing a post, these Reactions buttons are an effortless way for viewers to give feedback. With these additional options for feedback, businesses can change things accordingly and get a better grasp on the feelings of their followers.
Insights
Insights will not only show the amount of likes a post received, it will also show the amount of each reaction chosen as well. Though it may give a more in-depth understanding of the consumer as previously mentioned, it may also cause confusion. Again, if the purpose of a post was to elicit a sad or angry response from the consumers, this could show as a negative reaction and present an unclear picture of their feelings. A marketer would then need to continuously decipher between whether or not the response coincided with what was actually intended for the post.
These are a few pieces of the puzzle marketers will need to put together. But an opportunity to understand the consumer better is always something to look forward to. Overall, Facebook’s Reactions could be a positive addition to the analytics already given by the site and ultimately serve as a great marketing tool.
