Having goals for your social media efforts is a highly recommended and encouraged practice. How else can you determine if your content, level of activity and time are paying off?

It’s the type of goals you choose to set that typically demonstrates if you have a short term or long term approach to social media for your business. Focusing solely on attaining a massive number of Facebook Fan Page LIKEs is not a mindset of someone with a long term view.

The Problem with Facebook LIKEs

LIKEs, like any other statistic, are just a number. They are a count of people who have chosen to receive updates from your page for one reason or another. Anyone can run contests and pay for Facebook ads or promoted posts to quickly increase their number of LIKEs, but it’s the frequency of ad use and the focus on the content for the page that separates those with a short term view from those with a long term one.

Over at Eli | Rose, we’ll receive inquiries from time to time from companies wanting to turn their number of LIKEs from hundreds into tens of thousands. We even had a business talk to us about white labeling our social media management services under them who questioned what there was to do with a fan page if you don’t run a bunch of ads.

Part of running a business is recognizing that not all opportunities are good opportunities. A potential client who is interested in attaining a bunch of LIKEs without discussing content and engagement strategies to grow their fan page, or a firm wanting you to work for them who doesn’t understand that social media isn’t about a steady stream of ads…those aren’t projects that will have a positive outcome for you or them.

The story of the tortoise and the hare is a perfect one for social media. You can and will turn your page from hundreds of LIKEs into thousands, and then tens of thousands, but that kind of growth will take time. Focusing on creating solid, relevant content instead of skyrocketing fan counts is how to slowly and steadily win the race.