Have you ever wondered why your Business Page has
Likes and
Followers? And in most cases, the number is almost never equal, with most having more Followers than Likes. But some Pages may have more Likes than Followers. Huh? What? Why?
Before we get to the answer though, let's look at back at why Facebook introduced the 'Follow' function in the first place. It was first introduced for Personal Profiles where you could unfollow a friend's updates while still remaining friends, so as not to 'hurt' your friendship. The follow function found its way on to Public Profiles for users to follow their updates without befriending the public figure. It also ended up in Business Pages too.
So, coming back to our question, what's the
difference?
Like vs Following
When you like a Page, by default you are also following it. However, after liking that Page, you can choose to unfollow it. When you do that, you will still be seen as liking the Page, but you will not see the Page's post on your newsfeed unless you visit that particular Page. Why would one do that, you ask? Well, it could be you want to show your support to a friend's business by liking it but you don't find their posts to be of interest to you.
On the flip side, you could follow a Page without liking it, if you want to see their posts in your newsfeed but don't feel like showing your support for that Page by liking it. In essence, you are following the Page without liking it.
There is another feature that most users don't really pay attention to under the Following button. You can actually choose to See First in your newsfeed under options. This places a priority on that Page's post to appear in that user's newsfeed so that they won't miss any updates from the Page.
Some page admins do encourage their followers to activate this with a step-by-step guide but do be aware that if your Page posts 5 times a day, your users will get all that in their newsfeed and it could work against you if they find it too spammy and decide to 'unlike' your Page, so use this at your own discretion.
So, in summary:
- Users can Like a Page but not Follow
Users that Like your Page are by default set up to Follow you as well but they can choose to unfollow you manually. They will still show up as people who Like your Page but they won't see your Page posts on their newsfeed.
- Users can Like a Page and Follow by default
By far the most common scenario for most users. They Like your Page and are Following by default to see your posts on their newsfeed subject to facebook's algorithm.
- User Like & “View First” in Following
These are your most valuable users as they have chosen to prioritise your posts to appear in their newsfeed above all others. In theory, if all your users opt for "View First", your organic reach for Posts will be very high and you don't even have to resort to boosted posts to get more views.