Is Facebook deleting likes from business pages?
The long answer is yes and no. The short answer (which is actually the longer answer in this situation) is it's a good thing. I'll tell you why.
A few months ago, I started seeing a Facebook ad from a woman who claimed to have the inside track on why Facebook was deleting business page likes and how to avoid it happening to your page. Of course, she was willing to impart that crucial knowledge during her subscriber-only paid online conference. Imagine that! In a matter of weeks, I saw multiple business page owners make status posts begging their audience to please like or comment on one of their posts so that they wouldn't be considered an inactive fan and their like be deleted. I dubbed this phenomenon "Chicken Little-ing" and it seemed a little preemptive since we hadn't actually heard from Facebook what the plan was...
Earlier this month, Facebook came out with what is actually happening.
YES, FACEBOOK IS DELETING BUSINESS PAGE LIKES.
They're deleting likes from accounts that are fake or have been inactive or memorialized.
NO, FACEBOOK ISN'T DELETING LIKES FROM REAL FANS.
You'll be keeping all your fans who have the actual ability to interact with your business page. In other words, everyone who isn't a robot or would be communicating with you from beyond the grave. (Boo! Those both sound awesome.)
SO WHY IS THIS GOOD FOR ME?
Oh, let me count the ways!
1. If you have a cheaty cheater competitor who bought fake Facebook likes, their fan count might be heading for a quick downturn. Don't you love karma?
2. The likes you're losing aren't people who could buy your product or service anyway.
3. Having fans who aren't capable of buying your product or service could be making your insights hazy. By taking their information out of play, you have a better idea of what you actual target market is. So next time you use the lookalike audience function for a Facebook ad campaign, you have a greater chance of succeeding because you have up-to-date information.
So you are not possibly advantaged and your competition is possibly disadvantaged: win/win. Who's losing? I guess the robots and zombies that no longer see your posts.
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