Dealing with the End of the Like-Gate
The 'like gate' will officially be dead on November 5. That's when Pages will no longer be able to require users to 'like' them in order to get access to content, enter contests, gain access applications or receive rewards, according to Facebook's announcement in August.
It Was Never About the Fans Anyway
Updates to Facebook's News Feed algorithm have decreased the ability for brand content to reach fans organically, which has made fan-building tactics like like-gating less desirable.
For a time, likes were gold, and marketers wanted more of them, and it became about getting fans for the sake of getting fans (which Facebook did nothing to prevent). The fans race followed the same path as the nuclear arms race. Everyone accrued fans but with no plans to use them.
The like-gate is ending because fans are an obsolete commodity, which gives marketers more permission than ever using Facebook more effectively.
Focusing on the Right Engagement
Today, brands are learning that Facebook is not a place to collect fans but more of a platform to activate users through content they want to interact with and share, ads highly targeted and in context with their passions and experiences that are made richer when they involve social connections.
The focus for marketers isn't on using Facebook to build what was essentially a second database marketers had no control over. Instead, it's a platform with a number of tools marketers can leverage to activate users to take actions more aligned with business objectives than simple 'likes.'
Brands don't need fans. They need activated consumers. Today's Facebook gives more tools to make activation possible. The end of like-gating means one tool that is no longer necessary helps us all focus on the ones that are.