Should you ‘like’ your own Facebook posts?

John Murray

When businesses put something out on social media, it can feel like a long time between clicking ‘post’ or ‘tweet’, and that first reaction coming in. That might tempt some Facebook-using businesspeople to set the ball rolling themselves and immediately follow up their post by ‘liking’ what they’ve just written, but is this a good idea?

In 2017, an article from the tech website RicksDailyTips.com suggested that liking what you post is a good idea, pointing out that it could curry favour with the ‘Ticker’ Facebook had introduced at the time. It meant that even if your post doesn’t show up in a particular follower’s newsfeed, the Ticker would highlight activity among followers as it happens, so liking the post increases the chance of bringing it to their attention.

However, as the article points out in an update, the Ticker has since been discontinued by Facebook, eliminating many of the benefits. The article still doesn’t discourage liking your own posts, but admits that it’s now just a way to “prime the pump” rather than anything more.

A Google search for “should you like your own posts” brings up several blogs that advocate doing so, but on inspection, most of them are at least three years old and are highlighting benefits that have largely fallen away with Facebook’s redesigns. A more recent 2018 article notes that Facebook’s algorithms have “grown up”, and there is no longer any proof that liking your own posts is seen as anything more than spammy by Facebook.

Moreover, it argues that any algorithm benefits are negligible and don’t outweigh the risk of “looking like a jerk”. Liking your own posts can come across as lonely and desperate at best, or egotistical at worst, so for that reason we avoid it at Engage Web.

For guidance on how to drive social media engagement without talking to yourself, why not give us a call?

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John Murray

Content Editor at Engage Web

John studied English with Creative Writing at university and went on to write for newspapers in both West Yorkshire and Chester. A published poet, short story writer and music blogger with a flair for quick pun-delivery, John is a genuine word nerd and a member of a Scrabble club, so it was only natural that he went on to work in a wordy position.