Facebook Like Gate Slams Shut

Facebook banned the ‘Like Gate’ and gave users 90 days to comply. The drop dead date is this week on November 5th. What’s a Facebook Like Gate? It required Facebook users to Like your Page in order to see exclusive content like a contest entry, discount coupon or free download. Facebook declared it “wants people to like Pages because they want to connect and hear from the business, not because of artificial incentives.” As with any Facebook change, this brought on the obligatory hand-wringing and commentary from all social media corners of the blogosphere. So how does this change really impact your business Facebook page? It depends. If your primary objective is to gain 100,000 Likes for your Page as quickly as possible, and you like to give away a lot of cool prizes, this change is a bummer.

As we have learned over the course of the last year, having a smaller, more engaged community makes better business sense though. After all, you want people who are genuinely interested in your content to Like your Page. These are the Facebook users you want to keep in touch with and shepherd into your sales funnel.

We freely admit that we have used Facebook Like Gates in the past -- with great success. But nowadays, if you need to incentivize someone to Like your Page, you probably do not really need or want them anyway. They are just dead weight since organic reach is a thing of the past and you have to pay to promote your Facebook content. If your ad campaigns are targeted correctly to find new and interested followers, you will attract a better fan base. This will help stretch your advertising even budget further. It’s a win-win.

You can still offer up cool prizes for a contest. It remains a great way to engage with your core community. There are concerns that sweepstakes without a few hoops to jump through may attract anyone with a ‘you can't win if you don't enter’ attitude. It happens. The pros outweigh the cons though when it comes to a few, fun giveaways to engage and reward your existing community for their loyalty. And, you can still easily do it without Likes from a Facebook Like Gate!

How do you cash in on Likes in exchange for these giveaways and goodies? Currently the best technique is the simplest -- we simply ask folks to Like Our Page and Share Our Content. This is Salesmanship 101, just ask! It still works. Please, if you’ve enjoyed our blog post today….Like Us and share the news on your Facebook Page. Thank you!