Laura DonovanIf you manage a Facebook Business Page you may soon see some unexpected, and unwanted, changes to your Page.
On March 12, 2015 Facebook will be purging deactivated accounts. This means that any Likes you have on your Page from these accounts will be deleted. Causing the Like counts on Business Pages to dip.
These accounts include all deactivated personal profiles as well as memorialized accounts. However, if these accounts are reactivated they will automatically add back into your Like count.
Page Admins are currently seeing the following at the top of the Insight tab on Pages they manage:
“Removing inactive Facebook accounts from Page audience data gives businesses up-to-date insights on the people who actively follow their Page and makes it easier for businesses to find people like their followers through tools like lookalike audiences.” (Facebook for Business)
Comments and Pots from the deactivated accounts have already been removed.
Back in December Instagram purged “spam” accounts from many of its Users, causing many Users following count to drop by hundreds, thousands and even millions. Kim Kardashian lost 1.3 million followers in the Great Instagram Purge.
While the dip in Likes may be upsetting, it will allow for more authentic and “real” followers as Likes on the Page. There are also several things Page Admins can do to grow the number with authentic Likes that will be more beneficial to the business.
- Run Facebook Ads.
- Provide meaningful, interesting and informative content for Daily Updates/Posts.
- Provide a discount, promotion or special offer.
- Keep the Page active with Daily Updates.
While it may seem shocking at first to some, “Everyone benefits from meaningful information on Facebook. It’s our hope that this update makes Pages even more valuable for businesses.” (Facebook for Business)
So, don’t panic on March 12, be prepared to lose some Friends and have that Like count decrease and prepare to get back to actively growing the following to make up for those lost Likes.
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