Help Facebook likes keep dropping :(

[Former_Member]

Does anyone else notice their facebook likes keep going down? It seems like many people will like our page and then after I like them back they I will loose a like? This is a trend that I keep noticing and once I started paying attention we have lost around 10 likes! I am just wondering if anyone else is noticing this and any advice! Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

[Former_Member]

I've noticed this recently after FB implemented their new changes - you now can't hide a page from your news feed (well maybe you can, but they've just changed it and I can't see how to do it) so now the only option is to hide a post every time or unlike the page - I personally like pages for various different reason and don't want to unlike them but don't really want to get updates from all of them so prefer to hide some of them from my newsfeed and now I find I can't. I think this might be contributing to people just unliking the page.

[Former_Member]

Thanks taanz! That makes sense since I recently was asking a friend how to hide some feeds. She told me it was easy to do but I have been having a hard time trying to figure it out. I try to use my facebook for our shop mainly to promote newly listed items and to avoid sending too many feeds. I guess I will too have to unfortunately unlike some pages too since some fill my news feeds continuously with things that are not of interest to me. I just wish there was an easier way.

[Former_Member]

Check under hidden posts on your page. Sometimes FB places businesses there and the likes aren't counted.
Friends who like your business page go in a separate category, so count those towards your total likes.
FB is a mystery. But then again, so are Etsy, LinkedIn, blog followers, etc. So maybe it me?

[RandamArt]

Taanz is correct, it is a factor of the new changes that Facebook have forced on us. Once you could make your wall more manageable by deciding to hide "all" posts. I did that myself, just to get through the list of what my 'friends' were doing on a daily basis. I would then go and look around at pages I had liked, but being able to stop the pages posting to the wall, made my wall less overwhelming, and honesty, it's more fun to poke about on the pages you have liked to see what new things you find. But now Facebook has made it impossible (if it is possible in some way, I have yet to find it), to block pages from your news feed wall, you only have the "unlike' option. I do not think this is fair at all. Just because I don't want to see a billion posts on my newsfeed, does NOT mean I want to unlike, it means I want to CHOOSE how and when I view some of the pages I am connected to. It's ridiculous and it is not fair because people who are overwhelmed by the amount of content on their news-feed will, inevitably, 'unfriend'. Hang in there, with any luck, Facebook will get so many complains they decide to reinstate that ability.

[Former_Member]

Thanks everyone...glad to hear its Facebook and not our shop :)

[Former_Member]

More changes afoot - I manage to hide pages from my newsfeed this morning, don't know if this is a permanent change or just a glitch - but hopefully they have seen the error of their ways and stop playing with things all the time.

I keep a list of people who have liked my page in an excel file, every now and then I update it and keep a list of those who have unliked it, just for my own personal interest

Its funny - I had a giveaway for reaching 200 likers and 3 people re-liked the page when I announced freebies, 1 of them has already unliked the page since they didn't win (jokes on them though, they don't get included in the giveaway as I don't think that is fair on those who don't unlike the page)

[RandamArt]

I came back in to say ... It's BAAAACCCCK! I figured there would have been such an outpouring of complaints that they could have to put back the option to 'hide all' and while I was looking about just a while ago to see if there was another option, I discovered that the option is back.

I think that people were feeling overwhelmed and felt that unliking pages was their only option to make their newsfeed manageable. Now that people have the option of deciding what to see on their newsfeed, I feel that they will be more likely not to unlike.

There are, of course, people who 'like' just to get more likes and then they unlike, but that's how some people are and there's nothing can be done about that. You just have to trust that what you are doing is honorable and fair and move on. :)

I have unliked pages, but it was a while back, before I realized that liking with my page didn't count. So when I learned that I went through and liked everyone with my personal profile and then unliked the pages from my page. But I also let those people know what I had done. I felt badly that I had *thought* I was reciprocating and wasn't. But I corrected it as soon as I realized.

Anyway, hopefully they will not take that option away again and that will stop some of the unliking that had been going on recently!

[RandamArt]

Taanz - could it be that they experienced a Facebook problem? I know I had real issues with it last night. I had to hit 'like' multiple times, it said it went through and then the page refreshed and it hadn't gone through at all. Really odd! Maybe some deliberately unliked, I know people do that, but some might have been having a similar FB problem to what I was having last night.
Anyway, I just 'liked' you. I am fan 201! :D I followed your blog too. have not started reading yet, but I will later.

Best wishes!

[Former_Member]

Thanks RandamArt - there isn't much too my blog at the moment, I've spent the last year and a half working on my masters thesis which meant little time for Arty stuff. I'm hoping to get a bit more on my blog soon as things start to settle (still trying to play catch up).

If facebook wasn't my most useful marketing tool I'd give it up as I'm sick of the constant changes and glitches. But I've sold more stuff through FB than anywhere else plus its free so for now I'll stick with it.

[RandamArt]

No problem, I understand. I followed you so I'll see your post show up when you get back to blogging. :) Time is a problem, I completely understand that!!

[InspiredJewelryShop]

Ive never unliked a page. I always hid them. I mean...I dont want to have to scroll through two pages to find my friends because the page decides its going to post a status every second and a link/video every two seconds. That irritates me. I avoid posting multiple statusus in a day on my page as to not annoy people.

[Former_Member]

There can be a view different things going on here. Are you posting a lot on your page? If your followers see a lot of posts, they are going to think that you are spamming them, and a lot of them will unlike your page.

Also, Facebook does a random review. They will remove all your fans, and then add them back after they have reviewed them. It normally only lasts a few hours though. However, this is rare and it's even rarer to happen on a page with less than 5,000 likes.

[Former_Member]

Thanks again everyone! Your thoughts have been rather helpful. I too don't post on my page very often at all. I usually post when I have listed a new item. Sometimes I feel I am not as active on it as I should.

[BabyDear]

I'm late to the discussion, but I've been noticing the same thing. I created a list for my friends, so I can see their posts there, then all the business and other stuff shows up on my main page.

I'm still noticing a drop in likes though. I seem to lose a fan every few days. Sigh.

As far as posting a lot vs rarely, I have no idea which is best. Every time I post something I lose a fan, I'm also seeing fewer and fewer comments on my posts. When I see a page that posts too often I hide. Even if I like their stuff, if I see more than 1 post per day, they're hidden, otherwise it's too much. I think FB just isn't the marketing tool that it used to be. Hopefully the changes they've been promising won't make it worse than it already is.