True or False: Everything your business posts on Facebook chronologically appears in your friends/followers newsfeed.
Answer: FALSE! Of course, it’s every business’ social media dream that once the “post” button is clicked, your message is delivered smack on the top of your target audience’s newsfeed. Unfortunately, this could not be any further from the truth.
A study from News Feed Optimization service EdgeRank Checker of 50,000 posts by 1,000 pages shows the average organic reach per fan has steadily declined roughly 50 percent during the past year. The more pages individuals like, the higher the organic reach rate drops. Due to the overwhelming amount of content posted compared to the available space, Facebook has to filter individual feeds to show the most relevant posts.
And, unfortunately, all posts are not treated equally. Just like the fundamental goal of every existing business, Facebook’s number one focus is to increase revenue. This is done by its ability to show advertisements as well as find the most engaging posts that will stray away boredom and keep users coming back.
To examine the infinite amount of content posted, Facebook created an algorithm to analyze and determine the relevance each post has to each person. Among the most powerful determinants are:
- How popular are/have been the creators existing and past posts (number of likes, comments, shared, clicks).
- How popular have the creator’s past posts been with the user.
- Does the type of post (comment, photo, video, link) match the types that have been popular with the user in the past.
- How recent was the post.
According to Facebook, using the established algorithm, each post is generated based on rank order. The origination of the post is irrelevant as Facebook strives to show users what they want. The more successful a post is and the more popular the creator is among everyone, the more likely the posts are to be viewed in recent feeds.
The days are long gone when the number of likes and friends a Facebook page has translates to social media success.
So what can your business do to increase its reach on Facebook?
- Know your target audience. Understand the interests of your target audience and why existing friends/followers keep your business on their social media radar.
- Strategize your posts. Ensure each post is relevant to and will engage the interest of your followers/friends and target audience. Avoid being boring by mixing posts among statuses, links, photos and videos.
- Keep it current. Generate relevant and useful content on a regular basis that is deemed interesting enough to get likes, comments and shares.
- Consider advertising options. From page posts, offers to sponsored stories, Facebook offers multiple paid advertising options to meet individual business campaign goals.
Think twice before posting! While the goal is to have your business name become top of mind, it’s important that each outreach effort is strategically planned with the intent of engaging Facebook users and followers.
Daily, mundane posts will not only lose your audience’s interest, but also risk your newsfeed visibility altogether — making future efforts nearly impossible to succeed.
Call us today at 877.411.3243 ext. 805 to learn how we can help increase your social media outreach.
