#like gating

As you already know, Facebook announced that they will eliminate like gating for Facebook Pages starting November 5th. You can read the announcement here: Facebook policy change . But what is Fan Gating? Fan Gating, also known as Like Gating, is the method used by many brands to ask people to...

Today, Dropify is pleased to announce an update to its service plans which we are making immediately available to all customers. There’s now more to Dropify for the same price you’ve been paying. In an ongoing effort to simplify our service, Dropify now has an easier to grasp feature structure throughout the plans available. Bigger Drops for Everyone First of all, we’ve doubled the maximum upload size per each file for all four plans, ranging from 50 MB (Free) to 100 MB (Small) and 500 MB (Medium), while concluding with 1 GB (Large). Ramped up Like Limits In addition to the unlimited Drop upload that comes with all plans (except the Free one), we’ve increased the Like limit across-the-board. Being one of the most beloved and powerful features of Dropify, we wanted to make it even more affordable to our publishers. As a result we’ve doubled the limit for Small and Medium to 10,000 and 50,000 Likes, respectively. This comes in handy for those who might already have been close to the limit. Keep watching your fan base grow without paying anything extra for a while.

If you’re into Jazz music you’ve maybe come across the wicked tunes of Atlanta-based saxophonist Darryl Reeves by now. Not only did he release his brilliant album “Mercury” last summer, but he also just recently followed up with a free mixtape titled “The Dillaquarium Mixtape” – a tribute to the great J Dilla.

By the time Reeves stumbled upon Dropify, he had roughly 1,700 fans on Facebook. His mixtape had already been promoted on several blogs and it was available for stream on SoundCloud and a few hosting services for regular download. Despite the mixtape getting nothing but praise, people hardly found the way to Reeves’ social profiles, including Facebook. Even those who probably would’ve loved to become a fan of his didn’t invest the time to manual look up his Facebook Page. The result? A lost opportunity.

Quick Facts

Drop Type: ZIP/MP3 (mixtape)

Fan Base: 1,700

Time Frame: 1 week

Total Downloads: 1,500

Viral Reach: 53,000

New Fans: 1,400

After reading our article on how to combine SoundCloud with Dropify for increased fan growth, Reeves gave Dropify a shot … with MAJOR impact!

In less than a week his Dropify dashboard displayed more than 1,500 individual downloads. Since Forced Like Gating had been activated, 1,400+ people who downloaded the mixtape became a fan of Darryl Reeves in the process. The other 100 people already had been a fan of his.

By being a subscriber to Dropify’s Small plan, Reeves SO FAR gained 1,400 new fans at just $9 total. That’s only HALF A CENT per new fan!!! Yes, this ain’t no spelling mistake. And let’s not forget that these fans are actually into his music, since they intentionally downloaded a Jazz mixtape. There is a good chance these people will actually interact on his Facebook Page, recommend his music and follow his career in general, since they are a truly engaged. Right now his Facebook Page counts 3,258 fans – almost twice as many as prior to using Dropify.

“I keep my ear to the street when it comes to connecting with new fans. After reading an article about Dropify on Hypebot I gave it a shot and gained 1,400 new facebook fans in less than a week. Dropify’s service is amazing!” – Darryl Reeves

To further spread the word, Reeves added the Dropify download tab to his Facebook Page, which also displays his current and future free music available on Dropify.

Clever as he his, Reeves also added a direct download link into the mixtape’s description on YouTube.

As an artist, band, DJ or producer using SoundCloud, people can listen to your music or sounds by playing your streams. This is what makes SoundCloud great; right now it may be considered the premier service for STREAMING music.

Why we are emphasizing streaming here? Because that's what SoundCloud primarily is: A community-based platform to listen to sounds by streaming them. 

Now, what if you want to provide your sounds for download? Yes, it's possible with SoundCloud, but they limit it to 100 downloads in their Free plan. Everything above that limit requires a paid plan. If your music is great, people will want to download it, so that free limit will be eaten up pretty quickly.

Leverage your SoundCloud downloads by using Dropify

By adding a Dropify download link to your SoundCloud Stream page you'll kill two birds with one stone: Not only will you no longer have to worry about download limits, but you will also be able to get new Facebook Fans in the process.

London-based DJ/producer Mr No Hands works the SoundCloud/Dropify combo to perfection.

Let's take his setup as an example:

1. His upcoming release, a remix of the Nashville Teens' "Tobacco Road", is currently available for STREAM on SoundCloud and for DOWNLOAD on Dropify.

2. On top of his track's description he posted the short-link to his Drop (the download of his song on Dropify).

3. Additionally, he customized the "Buy" link to read "FREE DOWNLOAD HERE", which also links to the Drop. (Note: Requires a paid SoundCloud subscription)

4. By activating Forced Like Gating (Optional vs. Forced Like Gating), people are required to Like the artist's Facebook Page in order to download the Drop.

5. Each download further promotes the track through viral distribution on Facebook as the downloading person instantly shares the activity with his Facebook friends via the News Feed and Activity Feed.

Summary: Stream on SoundCloud, Download on Dropify

The entire download process happens on Dropify, but is initiated on SoundCloud. File hosting, unlimited downloads and viral distribution are taken care of by Dropify.

When it comes to music or sound files, Dropify is not to be considered as a competitor to SoundCloud. In fact, it serves as a powerful way to boost your overall distribution to new heights and to attract new audiences to your music.

Already have your music on SoundCloud? Cool! Now put it on Dropify and add the download links to your Streams.

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Moving forward, we plan to release short but interesting case studies on some of our publishers’ Drops every now and then.

Today, we are taking a deeper look at Deliciously Organic, who provide great recipes featuring unprocessed, organic ingredients.

Right after the launch of dropify they dropped a small PDF (0.25 MB) titled “Paleo Weekly Meal Plan”. They kept the PDF design pretty simple, but provided a custom Drop image that grabs attention.

Let’s share the numbers upfront: 1,300 downloads of the Drop resulted in 450 new fans. That’s a great feat considering people were able to skip the Like button to directly receive the download.

Quick Facts

Drop Type: PDF (recipe)

Fan Base: 25k Facebook, 8k Twitter

Time Frame: 1 week

Total Downloads: 1,300

Viral Reach: 45,000

New Fans: 450

The question is: What made this Drop so successful?

Carrie from Deliciously Organic simply seemed to know how to utilize dropify’s power right from the start. After publishing her Drop, she instantly tweeted the download link to her 3,700 followers on Twitter. Next, she posted a nice and short recommendation on her Facebook Page, again linking to the Drop – showing the image and description provided via dropify. Her Facebook post earned 100 shares, 40 comments and 290 Likes – further spreading the word about the Drop.

Now you may think that 1,300 total downloads don’t appear to be that much, taking into consideration that her Page already had 25,000 fans, but that’s where another impressive figure comes into play: 450 new fans. That’s right, as stated above, the Drop has been responsible for 450 new fans in just over a week. We know the exact numbers, because Carrie enabled Like Gating for her Drop and the dashboard of her account reflects the total number of fans that were gained through the Like Gate.

That said, at least one third of her downloaders were “new” people, who learned about Deliciously Organic and the recipe through dropify. Thanks to the Activity and News Feed actions that dropify generates for each download, almost 45,000 people have seen the free recipe download thus far. That’s almost twice their total fan base. A regular Facebook Page post (not promoted) usually doesn’t reach more than 8-10% of your fans. Assuming that Carrie had put the download on a usual file hosting service and posted the URL on her Facebook Page, she wouldn’t have reached more than 2,000–3,000 people. With dropify she’s already outdid that number fifteen times; and the viral loop won’t stop here as each new download keeps it moving.

It’s fair to say that – right now – there’s no other Facebook promotion method being more cost-effective than dropify. Of course an existing user base on Facebook and Twitter serve well and the publisher is required to capitalize on it. However, even with a smaller audience you may achieve similar or even better results. It’ll probably just take a bit longer.

How’s your Drop performing? Share your success story with us.

As a publisher, having dropped some files, you have likely stumbled upon a feature titled "Like Gating". If not, just access your Dashboard and see the details of one of your Drops.

Like Gating is an awesome feature to grow your fan base in a hurry. Once enabled, your Drop download will be locked to people not liking your Facebook Page yet. That said, everybody who wants to grab your Drop needs to first Like your Page (it's done right within the download flow) in order to actually start the download.

Starting today, we officially provide two modes of Like Gating: Optional and Forced.

Optional Like Gating When activated, people can decide whether or not they want to Like your brand on Facebook. You leave this decision up to them. If your content is awesome and people dig your brand, they will most likely Like you anyway. However, since Like Gating is optional, they might also click the Skip link that's available and therefore avoid the Like.

View Live Example: Hexsagon – Dave Brubeck Beat Tape by The Find Magazine

Forced Like Gating When activated, people are actually forced to Like your Page in order to download your Drop. There is no way to avoid that step. If you feel that you're giving away a real banger and you want to grow your fan base by any means, that's your choice right there.

View Live Example: 2012 Holiday Road Trip Mixtape by NoiseTrade

Which mode should I choose? This one is totally up to you. Both features provide great value in terms of getting new fans. However, you may want to make that decision based on how valuable you feel your Drop is. Choose Optional Like Gating if your Drop is cool, but nothing you wouldn't have shared as a simple free download piror to dropify. Go with Forced Like Gating if you feel like your Drop is really special and an awesome giveaway that should at least earn a Like in return. Remember, each Drop case is different and you should ask yourself if you were willing to Like what you're offering if you saw it elsewhere.

Where do I find the Like Gating settings? As stated above, this feature is available for each of your Drops individually. Log in into your account and just click one of your Drops in the Dashboard overview. You find the Like Gating settings on the right hand side, right underneath your Drop cover image.