Followers/likes not important on social media, says Forbes contributor

[The Buzz]

​Martin McDonald has written an interesting article about the metrics of social media for Forbes, located here: http://www.forbes.com/sites/martinma...eting-metrics/

Here's the most important paragraph:

Let’s be perfectly clear, tracking social media based on likes, or follower numbers, is a pointless metric. For a start, both can be easily gamed, but increasingly platform are moving towards more sophisticated content targeting which for many companies means their chances of getting an ROI out of social media is significantly reduced.

What do you think? Do follower numbers really matter? If not, what are the social media metrics that really do matter?

[WagerPod]

it can be a peace of mind tool for prospects. It can also be catch 22 with people not liking an empty page with no likes.

[PROFRBcom]

Legitimate followers help spread your news. Fake followers are obviously just something to help make new customers feel at ease as WagerPod stated. We'd rather just build new ones from the ground up

[sampendleton]

As a facebook user and a follower of certain pages(businesses), I sometimes looked at the reputation of a page based from the number of its followers but most especially on how people engage on its page. So I guess it does, on a user and a follower point of view but on the other hand it is the engagement that should matter the most.