As we were planning to release our Marketing Maven’s Guide to Facebook, I started to think about how much a Facebook Like is worth. Not just the qualitative measurements, but the actual hard numbers.
I wanted to know the truly quantitative amount in dollars. Is a Facebook like worth $1, $2, $10, or $100?
I then began Googling an answer and the first result presented one — kind of. In a Business Insider article from Jim Edwards last year, he cited several companies who have attached dollar amounts to their “likeability” on Facebook and any sales that have been attributed to a simple thumbs up.
Here are some examples that they included:
Blackbaud, NTEN, and Common Knowledge found that the average value of a like for nonprofits is $214.82, which is determined from the amount the donor has donated over the past year.
EventBrite determined that a Facebook like adds $1.34 to ticket sales.
Diamond Candles calculated that engagement on Facebook was worth 1 cent.
Determining the ROI is one of the biggest metrics that a marketer must calculate in order to prove the effectiveness of their social media content and actions. So figuring out the numerical value of a Facebook like helps to identify how much revenue your Facebook content and Page is driving overall.
It’s clear from the examples above that the value of a Like varies with each individual company and brand, but as a marketer, it’s up to you to figure out the value. Here are some ways to determine the value for your own Facebook Likes.
Page Likes vs. Post Likes
These are two distinctly different types of Likes because of the separate pieces of content that they are attached to. First, for Page Likes, I would argue that they are worth more because they provide some sort of reliable deliverability of the brand’s content. It also displays on the user’s profile (unless they hide it).
A Page Like almost guarantees an opportunity for extended reach — and did you know that 35% of fans like a page so that they can participate in contests? There can be clear calls-to-action to get someone to like your Page and to then reward them for doing so, both helping to determine what the actual value is of that Like.
As for a Post Like, the value doesn’t hold much long-term value, unless they’ve already liked your Page. It does, however, give you an opportunity to create effective content to encourage a Facebook user to like that post. I’ll touch on this again in regards to organic reach, which helps to increase the likelihood that a user will see and like your content.
Assigning value to both of these Likes requires digging into your CRM and Marketing Automation to determine if an opportunity came in through Facebook and then closed to become a customer, in addition to evaluating revenue from the sale, the average lifetime value of that customer, average order size, and any other costs you incurred to help determine the value of that Facebook Like.
Paid Activities
Quantitatively, it’s easier to determine the value of a Like for paid activities because there is a set amount that you will be spending, and —depending on the ad — you can also be charged on a “like-per-like” basis.
For Q2 2014, Facebook Ads increased in quarter-over-quarter CTR by 47%, indicating that if you develop the right content, people will engage with it.
Organic Reach
Organic reach is mostly determined by your brand’s Facebook posts and how they appear on the fan’s News Feed. Recently, brands have noticed that their organic reach has been cut by more than half, so it is becoming harder than ever to get your posts noticed on the News Feed — let alone liked.
It’s easy to say that creating effective, high-quality content will help extend your organic reach. And that is true; if you repeatedly create content that your fans like, they will see much more of it on their News Feed when they log into Facebook. This could increase the cost of a like if you keep creating content that doesn’t connect fans, but if you do the opposite, it increases the value of the likes.