There is a lot of apprehension and questions as Facebook is about to make its biggest change for marketers in a long time. We’re here to answer your questions and show you a new feature to help ease the transition.
I’ve heard Facebook is making changes to what I can do; what’s happening?
As of today, Facebook is no longer allowing apps to require Facebook users to Like a Page in order to access tab content or enter a promotion.
That’s one of my go-to moves… It’s really going away?
In a recent announcement to developers, Facebook announced the changes to their Platform Policies…
“To ensure quality connections and help businesses reach the people who matter to them, we want people to like Pages because they want to connect and hear from the business, not because of artificial incentives. We believe this update will benefit people and advertisers alike.”
Can you summarize that for me?
The long standing ability to require users to Like your page before entering a contest is going away.
I don’t like when things change, what are you doing about it?
We created an Optional Like Gate. This way you can still have a prominent way to encourage users to like your page without demanding it. Asking nicely to borrow $5 from your friend instead of demanding it at knife point tends to lead longer lasting relationships.
How does it work?
Pretty much the exact same way that Fan-gating works now but instead of entrants having to click the Like button to see the Entry Page they will be able to click the ‘skip’ link and continue onto the Entry Page.
Won’t this cut down on the number of people Liking my page?
Not necessarily, since optional Fan-gating has been in the system for some time, we’ve been able to monitor how it performs in comparison to required Liking. We’ve found that optional Liking of a page still achieved 78% of the Likes a required Like would have. In fact many users would stop the entry process upon reaching a FanGate but now with that requirement removed, we expect entries to rise. More entries means more valuable information about your customers.
That’s still less than 100%, right?
It sure is, but Likes aren’t all that matter. Obsessing less about Likes will allow you to get a deeper understanding about what your customers really want from you. The removal of required Liking is going to result in more people actively interested in your product for you to target. Which will result in more completed goals.
What do I have to do differently to create an image for the optional FanGate section?
Nothing, the skip and continue buttons will be placed above the image. We understand how much everyone likes to use arrows in your artwork and you will still be able to point up to that upper right hand corner like you always have. Just upload your image in the Customize section of your offer as before.
What will happen to my current offers using Required Likes?
Any offer with required Likes turned on will automatically be switched over to the optional Like.
So I don’t have to do anything?
It depends. If you have language in your existing content and images that indicate to the user they must Like your Page you need to change that. Otherwise you’re good to go.
Have more questions? Post them below…