If you’re a Facebook user, you’ve noticed the new Facebook Reactions feature that allows people to express themselves beyond just liking a post.

What are Facebook Reactions?

Facebook Reactions are an extension of Facebook’s Like button. If you hover over the button on a Facebook post on your desktop or mobile phone, you’ll see the six reactions: Like, Love, Haha, Wow, Sad and Angry.

Facebook Reactions can be used on posts from pages, as well as posts from friends.

As Facebook users start to click reactions on your page’s posts, you’ll start to see those actions in your page’s notifications.

What do Facebook Reactions mean for Facebook users?

This new feature could encourage users to interact more with your page’s posts. Followers who have been too shy to comment now have more ways to express themselves. And followers who weren’t sure how to react to posts that are about a sad or frustrating topic might have felt uncomfortable about clicking the Like button, but can now use the Sad or Anger reactions to reflect the mood of the post.

What do Facebook Reactions mean for small businesses and nonprofits?

Facebook Reactions are a great way to help organizations get more information on what their followers think about the posts they’re sharing. Are you and your followers on the same page when it comes to the content you think they’re interested in?

This post from Harvard Book Store shows that they share the same sense of humor as their audience because followers clicked the Haha reaction for this photo of a child hiding in their bookshelves.

Nonprofits, like Cradles to Crayons, can tell how moved their followers are when they share updates on the people and causes they support. This post they shared on an 8-year-old girl’s donation resonated with their audience, who gave it Likes, Loves, and Wows.

How can you measure Facebook Reactions?

The types of reactions are tallied on individual posts, and in Facebook’s Insights. To view how many people clicked each type of Reaction, hover over the reactions for an individual post.

Facebook Reactions will name the first 19 people and display a number of how many people after that clicked the reaction. Or click any of the reactions to get a total number of people who used the feature, how many clicked individual reactions, and which users clicked which reaction.

You can get a breakdown of reactions by clicking on an individual post anywhere Facebook Insights shows posts data, including the Overview page, and the Posts Types section of the Posts tab.

To get an overall look at reaction engagement in Facebook Insights, click on the Reach tab and scroll down to the Reactions, Comments, and Shares chart.

What can you do with Facebook Reactions?

Here are a few ideas for how your business or nonprofit can use Facebook Reactions:

• Invite people to share their emotions about a topic. Share a question on your page and ask people to click the reaction that reflects their opinion, like TV station WTKR did in response to the new Facebook Reactions feature.

• Use Facebook Reactions as a way for followers to share their opinions on a product or service.
• If you’re having a contest, encourage followers to use the reactions as a way to vote.
• Try using them in your content. The Philadelphia 76ers overlayed the Wow, Like, and Haha buttons on a player and the basketball in this recent video.

No matter how exactly you use Facebook Reactions, have fun with your fans and take note of their engagement.

Need more information on social media marketing?

Check out our recorded webinar, You’re Social, Now What? This session will give you tips on how to promote your organization with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Instagram.

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