By Jason McClain | April 17, 2016 | 0 Comment
Since pretty much the beginning, Facebook users have wanted a Dislike button, but we have received Facebook Reactions instead. Facebook says we are allowed to express only one of the following emotions at a time:
Each “reaction” is accompanied by a correlating emoji. This means a lot more than initially meets the eye. Not only does it up the ante for Facebook engagement, but it adds a few additional facets for Facebook marketing as well. Let’s jump in and find out all about it.
Why We Got Facebook Reactions
Not every moment shared on Facebook has a positive sentiment. When someone passes away or their phone breaks, you don’t necessarily want to acknowledge that status with a Like. However, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, felt that a Dislike feature would bring too much negativity to the social network. Facebook Reactions was born and Facebook has over-delivered. Given the choice, users surely would choose Facebook Reactions over a boring Dislike button any day.
The Basics About Facebook Reactions
Facebook Reactions were tested for several months among users in Spain and Ireland. The first generation of the tool included a seventh reaction: Yay. This one tended to be confusing to the beta users and was scrapped as being redundant.
Facebook rolled Reactions to the rest of its user base in late February 2016, and it quickly became the main buzz of social media news. While the Like button is still a static feature on Facebook, when a users long-presses or hovers their cursor over the Like button, they are presented with a pop-up toolbar that pictures the 6 emojis. Just as clicking Like tells Facebook to show you more of that post, all 6 Reactions have the same effect. This is likely to be adjusted at some point in the future, so that the Angry Reaction will show you less of that type of post.
Furthermore, the feature is only available on updates themselves, and not on comments. Reactions to comments are still limited to the solitary Like. Also, Facebook will display counts for Reactions, but will only display the three most used on any given post. This should make your Timeline a little less cluttered.
What Do Facebook Reactions Mean for Marketers
The most important take-away is data––and not just for Facebook, but for us as marketers too. Facebook Reactions will likely become a measurable parameter through which we can gather more data insights on customers. The first indications you will see as a Facebook Page Admin are notifications that people are reacting to your posts rather than just liking them. Click the icons to view a breakdown of who is reacting and how.
This is one way to view the data. This information is public to everyone, so your competitors can see how you’re doing. Don’t fret! That means you can conduct some pretty insightful counter-intelligence on their Facebook marketing efforts as well! To view Facebook Reactions data via Facebook Insights, find the post in the Posts tab and click it to view all of the data relating to it.
Take action and start using Reactions as a part of your Facebook marketing strategy with these great action steps:
Things to Keep in Mind
Facebook Reactions are still a totally new thing, so now is the time to become an expert at using them. There aren’t a lot of brands out there who know how to use them and they’re still new to seasoned users. It is doubtful that this new feature will go anywhere, but it is likely that it will be able to tell us more about our customers in the future, a big “thank you” to Facebook for finally letting us react.
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