“LinkedIn is not Facebook” has become one of the most overused phrases in the past 12 months
And yet with the news that LinkedIn is rolling out it’s own version of Facebook style reactions for posts it almost get’s a bit pantomime with calls of “Oh Yes It Is”
LinkedIn has explained the introduce of reactions as a reaction to what users kept telling them – that they “want more expressive ways than a “Like” to respond to the variety posts you see in your feed” with the idea that it’s “giving you more ways to quickly and constructively communicate with one another.”
We’ll explore each of the reactions for each platform (including LinkedIn) below – each set of reactions gives you as clue as to what sort of content works well on each of the platforms
The Social Media platforms themselves are giving you overt clues as to what works and what doesn’t on social media
INSTAGRAM
Instagram is a place you follow passions, interests and people you love
It’s a happy place where you go when Twitter and Facebook are turning into absolute sh*t storms over Brexit, Politics and media fuelled rage
At the time of writing this article Instagram only has one way of reacting – the big double tap heart
– Love
If you can posts things on Instagram that move people, make people smile and make them feel happy inside then you’re halfway there to getting a reaction
Instagram recently (2019) did a survey of users aged between 13-64 that revealed
– 87% of people have taken action after seeing product information on Instagram
– 57% of people want to see fun or entertaining content from brands
– only 36% looking for beautifully produced images and videos
Instagram has traditionally been a place of beauty – but with the last stat on this research is beauty as important as making people feel something
FACEBOOK
Facebook offers 6 different ways you can react to posts
– Like
– Love
– Haha
– Wow
– Sad
– Angry
Think about that for a while
All of those reactions are emotional reactions and the Facebook algorithm is waited towards people reacting to content
For a long time there have been rumours that Facebook weights posts that have a positive reaction rather than Sad or Angry, but we all know the reality of Facebook is that bad news spreads fast
But whilst the medias narrative is always tuned to negative, for a business you want to look at those WOW moments, LOVE moments HAHA moments
Posts and stories that feature people and have a big emotional reaction will always fly on Facebook
Focus on this
LINKEDIN
So that brings us to LinkedIn and their version of reactions which come in the form of
– Like
– Celebrate
– Love
– Insightful
– Curious
It all feels very very LinkedIn and goes to the heart of what you should be posting on LinkedIn
Celebrating your success and highlights (but not every post), Insightful comments about your industry and specialist field and updates that make people think (or curious)
When I look at any single post that does well on LinkedIn it fits in to those boxes
The big worry for LinkedIn though is that LinkedIn has been a place where comments have fuelled the algorithm, got people noticed and built stronger relationships
It’s not known yet, but will a reaction button move people away from commenting to clicking a reaction which for many seems easier
The bonus of this would of course be those that take time to comment will stand out more than those that simply use a reaction button
SO WHAT DO THE CHOICE OF REACTIONS TELL US ABOUT SOCIAL MEDIA?
We’ve offered lots of hints above, but it’s important to look at what buttons aren’t on offer and what reactions we secretly all wish were there on Social Media
Buttons like
– Yes – you’ve posted this 10 times this week already
– Not Another Sales post
– That Didn’t Really Happen
– I DGAF
– I’ve read that article already
– Tell me something I don’t know
– Nice Link – but what is your opinion?
– MLM is a scam – you’ve just been removed
– I’d rather read another article about GDPR than this
There are many people on Social Media that are lurkers and will never comment – but be careful none of your posts fall into those reactions above
Does anyone else have any suggestions of alternative reaction buttons?
And let us know what your most popular post on Social Media EVER has been
My Most Popular Facebook Post – 762,000 video views
My Most Read Blog – 580,000
My Most Popular Tweet – 191,000 Impressions
My Most Popular LinkedIn Post – 109,000 Impressions
EVERYONE CAN BE SHARED >>> Normal Folk Like You & Me
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