Originally Posted:

Humans naturally like to praise others. We enjoy telling people how great they did; we clap for an entertaining performance, and we admire the people we want to be like. Being social is human, and we praise one another publicly to help fill this natural need.

In Facebook , this praise is not as straightforward. Many of us show our support through the Like button, but we also follow these pages for a variety of other reasons:

  • Self-Expressionists
    We align ourselves with the brands, causes, and ideas that we see in ourselves. We want to support animal welfare, so we add and share content from the ASPCA. To show our upscale taste to the world, we follow Giorgio Armani. Or perhaps we want to tell people we’re impatient, so we Like the “I hate waiting” page.  We subscribe to these pages because they are a tangible piece of our complex personality.

e.g. The music artists that we follow.

  • Consumers
    Facebook is a great tool to keep in the know. In baseball, good pitching will beat good hitting. In the social world, good content will beat a good brand name. Content drives subscriptions and loyalty. For some brands, such as the entertainment and news organizations, their content is their brand. So, as a channel for information, we sign up strictly to consume, comment, and/or share.
    e.g. The insightful guru: Seth Godin
  • Coupon Cutters
    Many people sign up for our Facebook page strictly for special offers. Let’s face it. We all want to save money, so people trade their “Like” for exclusive deals. And if the deals suddenly ended, we most likely would go elsewhere. With this type of subscription, we also have a certain level of tolerance for dealing with irrelevant content. Not every deal is going to be used. In fact, not many of them at all, but we keep subscribed in hopes to find something we want.

e.g. Groupon deals via Facebook: Groupon San Francisco

  • Accomplishers
    In our life, major accomplishments guide us along to who we are today. And we’re proud to show our current goals or past achievements. We show where we graduated from. Or we proudly display each “Like” as if they were a trophy we received at the end of the race. Whichever our reason – as a symbol of accomplishment or a goal to be accomplished – this type of subscription is a proud symbol of our lifestyle.

E.g. Marathoners unite.  Boston Marathon

  • Obligators
    Each person has their daily business relationships – their workplace, their dentist, or the family coffee shop. We are not as interested in the content, as much as we are for supporting them publicly.  We may have been personally asked to like the page. Or perhaps we want to show support for a friend. Either way, these personal relationships motivate us to like the page, whether through support or obligation
    e.g. Our sister’s business

Many people subscribe to your page for a variety of reasons. And these categories do not have clear-cut lines. Some of your followers may fall into more than one category. But, discovering and understanding why people subscribe to your page can give you better insight on meeting their needs to build and keeping their attention and/or loyalty.