Not everything that's shared elicits a Like response. Losing your cellphone for instance would probably lead to more ‘Sad’ reactions than ‘Likes.’ The same holds true for the posts a business publishes to its Facebook account. So what exactly do Facebook Reactions mean to marketers?

Deeper insight into how your audience interacts with your content

Facebook’s reactions give marketers greater insight into which posts work, which don’t and what their audience would like (or not like to see). Good or bad, people who weren't previously inclined to touch a brand’s content may now react to it. The bottom line is that businesses can now pay closer attention to how content is resonating with their audience, and then use that information to take specific actions.

Love is everything

People are more inclined to react to and interact with the things they love. Furthermore, people who ‘love’ your posts probably also make good brand ambassadors. If you're starting to notice certain people are “loving” posts often, keep a list of these people for opportunities so you can take the time too send them great content later.

Don’t ignore negative emotions

Use negative emotions to tweak what you post and also to improve your levels of service. Nobody wants a negative reaction, but they will show you what you’re doing wrong and where you need to concentrate your efforts.

The “Like” could become less important

Now that the new ‘Reactions’ are around, how do you know if you’re resonating with your audience if you’re only getting ‘Likes?’ Well, ‘Likes’ are still important and of course, many people still have to get used to the fact that they now have other options as well. But as users get more accustomed to these different reactions, the bar for Facebook content quality is most certainly going to rise. Either way, any reaction is still better than no reaction at all.

The good news throughout though is that as Facebook continually innovate, it forces all of us as marketers to keep getting to know our audiences better and create great, engaging, entertaining content. It helps us understand and appreciate our fans and followers better and it drives us to deliver a more customer-orientated business all-round.

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*This article was originally published on 360eight’s blog.