A ‘dislike’ button could spell disaster for brands on Facebook

It was announced earlier this week, by Mark Zuckerburg himself that Facebook is in the throws of testing a dislike button — or something like it. With the proposed launch of this dislike button inside Facebook, on top of the already heavy algorithmic change intended to target brands, this could spell utter disaster for brands if they don’t change their “spam/advertising”

Whilst there are “best practice” policies for each of the respective social environments, we are entering an era of authenticity and likes just don’t cut it anymore. The like button now has split variants, I can like your page but unfollow you, or unlike and unfollow you, but stay your friend. I’m sure you’re thinking that now with a dislike button, there is ample opportunity to open up your brand to bad press. Not entirely true.

In order for brands to be entrenched in the lives of their audiences, they need to change their tactics all together, Facebook is not a conversion platform, it’s a trust and authority platform. Only once a brand has those 2 things inside Facebook can Facebook have true conversion value. The participation curve for brands inside Facebook is roughly 3-5 years. So if you’re not in it for the long haul, there to provide true value to your audience, this dislike button could ruin your campaign and your brand.

On the flip side, what brands don’t realise is that social is a very large contributor to search engine ranking, their SEO, therefore their ethics going forward will have either a really good or really bad effect on their brand. The most successful brands in Facebook and Twitter are the ones using their social media for soliciting and dispensing customer service and feedback. A multi-channel support concept that could help drive customer loyalty and positively impact conversions if handled correctly. Most brands would shy away from this, but in reality it is creating authenticity for the brands, not a bad rep.

So going forward, I would urge all brands to take a long hard look at their “social profile” and then decide which side of the like button you want to be.