Driving recommendations from friends and influencers might be the goal of many marketing campaigns, but when it comes to simply generating “likes” on Facebook, a recently published study shows that ads and direct outreach convert best.

According to a study of more than 1,600 people ages 18 to 60 by DDB Worldwide and Opinionway Research, 75% of those who liked a brand on Facebook did so because of an ad or another form of direct outreach. Invitations from friends was the impetus for 59% of likes, while personal research accounted for just 49% of them.

That’s not to say that invitations from friends are any less important. As eMarketer notes, “Many of those invitations are likely a secondary form of brand outreach as well, as marketers encourage current followers to become brand advocates on their behalf.”

The study also looked at reasons why people unsubscribe from a brand’s updates – something that 36% of those that liked a brand had done. Top reasons cited include losing interest in the brand, frequency (or lack thereof) of updates and uninteresting content.







Those findings would seem to support data from other recent studies that show the top reasons people do engage with brands on Facebook is largely for a combination of discounts and information.

What makes you subscribe or unsubscribe to a brand on Facebook? Let us know in the comments.