Something people had been asking Facebook for a lot of time was the ‘dislike’ button. But, would it not only have been unethical but also given out a bad impression on the company’s end. But to give people more flexibility while expressing themselves on the platform, Zuckerberg recently introduced the functionality of ‘Facebook Reactions’ which replaces the ‘Like’ button and now offers six different moods including Like, Love, Haha, Angry, Wow and Sad. This has opened up new expressive techniques for the users on a particular status update or a picture. While the Facebook community is happy with the latest introduction, let us analyze how this new feature will impact the Businesses and their engagement and marketing strategies.
1. Increased engagement due to newer expressions:
Several times it so happens that a user looks at a post and has an opinion about its content, but since one does not want to ‘Like’ it, he just skips the same because of the inability to react. But, with the reactions feature, he can react to it with the “Angry’ expression if the content is negative or a ‘Wow’ if it fascinates the reader. This has increased engagement and led to better analytics for businesses giving them a better insight into its readership numbers.
2. Increased analytical abilities for businesses
With the new introduction, analyzing the user activity has been simplified for brands. Based on the reactions of the readers, people can understand the quality of the content that has been posted on their page and how different people have reacted to their opinions. It also helps understand the type of content that readers look forward to and what make people uncomfortable. This also provides an idea about the trending concepts and what genre is the most entertaining for the users.
3. Offers a boost to creativity
With an insight into what the audience really wants, possibilities for improvisation and testing new trends increases. It offers people to add certain new concepts and content specific material which leads to better execution and the chance to try something new, leaving behind the typical trends. When freedom to experiment is given, a creativity boost leads to innovation and better outcomes. This process impacts the marketing teams in a positive way by avoiding repetition and increasing possibilities of introducing better concepts.
4. Helps form an opinionated following
While Facebook has had the survey feature for a very long time, offering the readers a chance to vote for their preferred opinion, with the introduction of the latest feature, there is no need to create surveys and to pass them on to your audience. A simple question can be asked and voting can be done using the new reactions such as Love, Like, Sad and Wow. This simplifies the feedback process and saves time and energy which can be utilized for better work.
Overall, the Facebook Reactions which is still a new concept has a lot to offer to businesses if exploited correctly. It needs more time to establish its presence but seeing the possibilities it offers, it will prove to be a useful tool in the future.