I went onto Facebook a couple of days ago and found that my Like Button had spawned a friend: the Follow Button. “What is this?” I asked myself, and began my search online. And found zippo information about it. Finally, I came across an article that explained that Facebook is testing a Follow button on Pages. So what’s the difference between a LIKE and a FOLLOW?

LIKING a Page will NOT mean that you’re getting the content – it’s just an indication that you support the Page. It’s literally just a “thumbs up” indicator that you’re at least supporting the Page and its content. Previously, Liking a Page automatically meant that you also got all its content, but this is no longer a guarantee. Enter, the FOLLOW button….

FOLLOWING a Page will ensure you get the content posted by that Page in your News Feed or Pages News Feed. If the Follow button stays (I believe it’s still in testing mode), then you can Like a Page, and then choose to UNFOLLOW it so that you don’t get the content pushed to you.

This is a whole new ball game for marketers because it’s no longer enough to get the LIKE, but to get people engaging and participating in conversations with you, you’ll need to persuade them to hit the FOLLOW button as well. Thankfully, when you Like a Page the Follow button is automatically switched on, so it’s basically an “opt-out” option for your fans (an opt-out we hope they don’t take).

Do you have the Follow button on your Page or do you see it when you navigate to other Pages on Facebook? We’ll see if it stays. Early testing showed promise, but to be honest, John & Jane Facebooker are likely going to be very, very confused by it. Or they might not notice at all. Only time will tell.

Happy Facebooking!

Rebecca