A World of Facebook Marketing with the Dislike Button

Sure, they could easily share their opinion by simply avoiding any sort of participation but being able to express the feeling of disdain, openly on the platform, by showing a thumbs down is what many users have always wanted.

“You know, some people have asked for a Dislike button because they want to be able to say ‘That thing isn’t good’,” said Zuckerberg in a public Q&A. “And that’s not something that we think is good for the world. So we’re not going to build that.”

… though change is near.

“People have asked about the ‘dislike’ button for many years, and probably hundreds of people have asked about this, and today is a special day because today is the day that I actually get to say we are working on it, and are very close to shipping a test of it,” said Zuckerberg.

Zuckerberg has always stood fast to leaving a “dislike” feature from the platform because it could cause drama…

“That doesn’t seem like the kind of community that we want to create: You don’t want to go through the process of sharing some moment that was important to you in your day and have someone ‘downvote’ it.”

… but since the social platform is such an incredible giant in the world of advertising and marketing you would wonder if these features have been limited to cater to those that are using the Facebook advertising system. After all – why scare away potential customers if the user base can flat-out annihilate your campaign by disliking what you have to offer?

What it creates is a very interesting social ecosystem that may shake the way businesses use advertising and marketing on the platform as it stands now.

Via StreetInsider

• The Good – Brands (and businesses) will now able to easily tell whether a campaign is succeeding base on the amount of likes and dislikes.
• The Bad – Could you imagine if the system, in place, shows fewer ads based on interactivity (especially so if you happen to get off to a bad start)?

Since the ‘Dislike’ button is still a beta feature it’s hard to determine whether it will have a significant impact but in the event it does begin to make way to all users it’s important to remember the fundamentals of FB advertising and marketing since they remain solid in terms of engagement and conversion:

• Great Copy – Keep it short, punchy (like a headline of a newspaper), and one that you would be willing to share with other friends & family.
• Fantastic Creative – A graphic that’s going to catch your attention no matter how fast a user is scrolling through their feed (unique = greatness).
• Strong CTA – Something to give users a real reason to click through to purchase/install/sign-up base around a strong emotional connection or one that’s incredibly logical.

Take a look at our Facebook Roundups for exact examples on the topic and learn from those that have done an already great job at engagement (and from those that have dropped the ball).

What do you expect to happen if Facebook decides to unleash a ‘Dislike’ button on its platform?