When it comes to Marketing using Facebook, are you focusing on quality or quantity? It’s easy to fall into a rut when you’re posting daily, but it’s important that the quality of your posts doesn’t drop off. I’m sure you already know that quality is important, but did you realize that even ONE bad post can ruin your Facebook readership? It’s not hyperbole; a recent study conducted by FastCompany.com (in partnership with PageLever.com) proves that no bad post goes unpunished.

The study shows how people react when they don’t like a post (not including people who take no action). The least common reaction is a fan unliking you, this is bad but at least you’ll notice the dip in Likes and can adjust accordingly. The runner-up is hiding your post; again this is bad, but it’s just one post. Now here comes the problem. The single most common action a user will take when they don’t like your post is…

Drumroll please?

HIDING ALL YOUR POSTS!

That’s right. The most common reaction to not liking a single post is hiding all your future posts. This means that even though your readership does not ostensibly change, you’re not actually reaching any of those people.
So what does this mean? If we can’t take our Likes at face value, what is our metric?

Engagement.

Engagement must be the metric for Facebook success moving forwards. Facebook makes it easy to track likes and shares, so pay attention. Find out what content is spreading the farthest and replicate it. Not only will this ensure that your content is being seen, it will guarantee an audience that truly LIKES your brand.

Original article about measuring Facebook success posted on Wikimotive's blog under the title Likes May Lie: Finding New Metrics.