Increasing Site Referrals & Engagement With Facebook’s “Like” Button

Facebook has become extremely important for marketing music on the web and the "Like" button remains the core tool for encouraging fans to spread the word.  Danny Sullivan at Search Engine Land recently took a look at a variety of stats from Facebook related to FB social plugins and the "Like" button. Take the numbers as you will but Facebook reports dramatic increases in referrals by those integrating their site with Facebook via social plugins.

After adding just the "Like" button, Levi's had a 40% increase in referrals while Giantnerd.com had a 100% increase. Ecommerce companies find that deploying "Like" buttons next to individual items is a potent tool and a variety of companies saw increased revenue from FB referrals.

According to Sullivan, Facebook reports increased clicks when:

• "Like" buttons include friend's pics
• People are allowed to add comments
• "Like" buttons are deployed at "both the top and bottom of articles"
• "Like" buttons are placed near videos and graphics

In a fairly obvious move, Metacafe increased both referrals and traffic from referrals by moving the position of the "Like" button from the bottom to the top of the page.

These tips boil down to increased use and referral when visitors are visible via thumbnails and comments and when "Like" buttons are deployed in places where people are more likely to see them. If you're already giving your friends and fans a presence on your site, such uses of the "Like" button will fit right in. And, given the experience of web retailers, going beyond simply including "Like" buttons on blog posts to adding them next to every music video and MP3 displayed on your site is the way to go.

Of course, some things work better than others.  Trying out different approaches and regularly checking out one's site analytics are keys to success. And that means comparing not only traffic via different uses of FB plugins and different sources of traffic beyond Facebook but also comparing engagement metrics including time spent on the site, merch and music sales and additional referrals. So information like that shared above should always be considered a starting point rather than the final word.

Hypebot contributor Clyde Smith is a freelance writer and blogger. Flux Research is his business writing hub and All World Dance is his primary web project.