Why People Become Facebook Fans

Most people who "like" brands on Facebook do so because they actually like them, not because they want to get free or discounted stuff, according to a new survey.

That finding may sound obvious, but for marketers the takeaway may be that your money is better spent on branding ads on Facebook than call-to-action direct-response ads that may actually produce more likes and higher click-through rates. Syncapse, the firm that pegged the average value of a Facebook fan at earlier this year, worked with Hotspex to interview 2,080 consumers in the first quarter about their reasons for becoming Facebook fans. While "to support the brand I like" was the No. 1 reason for fanning, there were other reasons: