- It will save time.
- It will save money
- It’s the smart move.
- No, it’s the right move.
How about it? It just feels good. It’s a form of instant gratification.
But, can you really base your success off instant gratification alone?
- What’s the ROI of having 50,000 Facebook “likes?”
- What do those 1,000 total RTs really mean for your business?
- Are all your 60,000 email subscribers reading and acting on your weekly email blasts?
Your first response might be, “Heck Yes,” this all matters. Numbers have a way of making us feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Admit it, it feels good to be “liked” and popular. That’s instant gratification kicking it.
But, the question is, are these numbers really helping the bottom line?
You can have 50,000 total likers on Facebook, but does it really help your cause if they like the page and never come back to it. Would it maybe help your business more to have only 5,000 highly engaged likers, who like and comment on almost all your posts. Some of these people may even blog about you and talk about how awesome you and your employees are to their family and friends. Now, which would you prefer?
Instant gratification can have a funny way in coming back to haunt us. Numbers can absolutely matter. But, it’s not the end all be all. Sometimes, the harder path and/or the harder metrics to measure- such as engagement- can often be the better business move.
That’s a good point. I know at our agency, we focus on likes (because that’s the only number many clients care about) but our main objectives involve trying to drive the percent feedback/impressions on each post higher. Sure, a post on a larger page could drive more comments but when you look at percentages, some smaller pages actually have a more engaged audience. Good stuff to look at here!
Great points, Drew. The balancing act between showing clients numbers and engagement levels can be tricky. I predict in the near future- standard, basic measurements like impressions, pageviews and total likers will mean less and engagement metrics- like comments, likes on a post, Twitter mentions and how these factors correlate to the ROI will become the norm.
I definitely agree with this posting. Looking for a huge amount of followers, without repeat visits is generally not the way to go. I’m just developing my site and it can be tough to get people to view the site, but I’m more focused on meaningful content and a more specific niche to view my content. I think this is a lesson some people learn after getting the followers and seeing lack of comments or interest in the page. I wrote a post about instant gratification in general. Feel free to check it out if you like: http://www.joyfulmeanings.com/blog/2012/04/03/self-discipline-balancing-between-instant-gratification-and-long-term-satisfaction/