On Monday, March 16, 2015, many agencies, brand managers, social media gurus, and numerous other entrepreneurs who manage their brand’s Facebook page woke up to disaster. Facebook likes on their page crumbled. Ok. Maybe that’s stretching it, as most brands saw only a slight decrease in brand likes, perhaps as much as 5%-10%.
But here’s what happened.
Facebook Eliminated Deactivated Accounts From Brand Page Counts
Deactivated accounts are accounts that users have chosen to turn off but not completely delete. Many people want to step away from Facebook for a little, and if they deactivate their account temporarily, then when they return, all their friends and liked pages would be turned back on. So a Facebook Page liked by these deactivated accounts loses the like count on the Page for now. However, the like will automatically come back when the account is reactivated.
Facebook Also Removed Memorialized Accounts From Page Likes
Facebook also eliminated what is describes as memorialized accounts, essentially the account of people who have passed away. Many assume that the liked Pages of the deceased person would remain in their own account. But they have definitely been removed from Facebook Page counts.
Here is the actual Facebook release on their changes.
Updates to Facebook Pages Will Serve to Provide Better, More Accurate Results
While many are hell bent on getting their likes up (to heck with engagement, they say), Facebook’s Page changes are actually a really, really good thing for those that love accurate data.
Removing inactive Facebook accounts helps brands more accurately dissect metrics like engagement and also makes better use of tools like lookalike audiences.
The Facebook changes also help with consistency in data analysis. As Facebook stated in their official release: “We already filter out likes and comments generated by deactivated or memorialized accounts from individual Page posts, so this update keeps data consistent.”
Aha! Facebook was already pulling the sheet over our eyes. Just teasing, but this just means that Facebook is calling a spade a spade, and makes it consistent for all brands and all reports, making Facebook Insights that much more powerful (accurate data always wins).
What Brands Should Expect
While Facebook continues to tinker with these deactivated and memorialized accounts, a brand’s Page like count will continue to see a dip in likes, albeit small.
If a brand sees a huge dip in likes, well, it means it probably was pumping out posts, and possibly spending useless money on boosted posts, to send brand content to Facebook users who were not at all interested in what they were saying anymore.
While Facebook has made some questionable decisions in the past (privacy and content to name a few), this change is a great thing for (real) data-driven marketers.
How many Page likes did your business lose, if any?
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