The Value of a "Liker"

Newspapers and other content organizations can use social mechanisms, such as the Facebook "Like" mechanism, to drive traffic, engagement and clickthrough rates, Facebook argues. Do get those results, content publishers should use social plugins, beginning with the Like button.

When a person clicks "Like," it publishes  a story to their friends with a link back to a site, adds the article to the reader’s profile, and makes the article discoverable through search on Facebook.

Publishers also should optimize their "Like" buttons, perhaps  showing friends’ faces and placing the button near engaging content, but avoiding visual clutter with plenty of white space. That can increase clickthrough rates by three to five times.

Publishing engaging stories or status updates (things that are emotional, provocative, related to sporting events or even simple questions) increase on-page engagement by 1.3 to three times, Facebook says.

Highlighting the most-popular content on a site leads people to view more articles. Those who click on the "Activity Feed" plugin in particular generate four times as many page views as the average media site viewer. Place it above the fold on a home page and at the bottom of each article for maximum engagement.

Publishers should use the "Live Stream" to engage users during live events, as well. The live stream box can serve as a way to reach an  audience, facilitate sharing of content, and get them involved in what is streaming, be it an interview, conference, or other type of event.
People who click the Facebook "Like" button are more engaged, active and connected than the average Facebook user, Facebook says. The average “liker” has 2.4 times the amount of friends than that of a typical Facebook user. They are also more interested in exploring content they discover on Facebook. They click on 5.3 times more links to external sites than the typical Facebook user.

Many publishers are reporting increases in traffic since adding social plugins, including ABC News (+190 percent), Gawker (+200 percent),  TypePad (+200 percent), Sporting News (+500 percent), and  NBA.com (number-two referral source). Publishers have also told Facebook that people on their sites are more engaged and stay longer when their real identity and real friends are driving the experience through social plugins. For example, on NHL.com, visitors are reading 92 percent more articles, spending 85 percent more time on-site, viewing 86 percent more videos, and generating 36 percent more visits.

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