Today I want to address some Facebook rumors that are swirling around the web. I want to make sure you’re clear on how Facebook’s algorithm works and I don’t want you to worry that fans are being deleted and disappearing.
You might have seen people posting on their pages and personal profiles things like this:
“HEADS UP!! FACEBOOK has recently changed its rules for Business Pages again. So, here’s the deal; A person has to be ‘active’ on our page a minimum of 3 times within any calendar month period. This means a ‘like’ of a picture, a comment or a full post on the wall. If a person is not active on our page, after a month of no activity, their ‘like’ will be removed from our page, as FB has decided they are not interested. So, if you like our pages, do make sure you are regularly active. Even just one quick post a week will ensure that the page will remain in your timeline. It’s also been found that the more Likes or Comments any one post receives, the more people that see it in their Newsfeed. So if you see a post or photo you appreciate, make sure you like it, or even comment on it.”
This rumor started end of last year, but has resurfaced this week. So, let me break it down for you what’s true and what’s not.
Facebook did indeed change their algorithm around September 2013. During that time, a business page’s organic reach decreased, meaning less people were seeing posts without the page paying for the exposure. On average, only about 3-5% of your total likes are seeing your posts organically.
With this new algorithm, when people stop engaging with your business page (commenting/liking/sharing), that tells Facebook you must not be posting relevant information that the fan finds interesting so Facebook stops showing your posts to them. In order to get in front of that person again, you need to pay using Facebook ads. And, you want to make sure the posts you’re paying for are relevant and engaging, to re-engage the fan.
This probably shows you the importance of Facebook ads.
This post is false in the sense that there hasn’t been a number released as far as how many times per month a fan needs to engage with a post in order to continue seeing it’s post.
Also false is that a person will be removed from your page if they don’t interact within a month. Again, there has been no timeframe announced, and Facebook is not deleting unengaged fans, they’re just not showing them your posts organically.
This post is right by saying if a post gets more likes/comments/shares than usual, more people will see the post. It becomes popular to Facebook and they keep it in your fan’s news feed longer and show to more people. This shows you the importance of posting quality content that is relatable to your specific audience.
Takeaways:
• The best way to get the most out of Facebook pages is through advertising. There is no free lunch anymore, but the good news is Facebook’s ad platform is extremely targeted and effective. (If you need Facebook Ad training, you can find it within Social Edge. Learn more at https://www.crystalmediaco.com/socialedge )
• Post quality, relatable content that your ideal audience will engage with. Step into your customer’s shoes and ask yourself, “Would my perfect customer like/comment/share this post?” If the answer is, “Heck yes!” then post and consider putting some ad dollars behind it. If the answer is “no,” perfect the post so it’s more engaging and relatable.
• There isn’t a secret number of how many times you should post and how many times a person needs to interact with your page to keep seeing your posts. Focus on quality, consistent content and use Facebook ads to increase your reach. Monitor your Facebook Insights to see when your audience is online and track what frequency they respond the best to – meaning how many times a day and week should you post to get the highest reach and engagement for your specific audience.
If you have any questions please leave them below or on my Facebook page. I hope you have a wonderful, busy weekend!
PS – You might have heard that Social Edge prices are increasing on April 14th, 2014. I’ll share more about the price increase in the coming weeks, but now is the time to join to lock in the current low price of $47/month or $470/year.
To the future,
Crystal
Impossible to get likes/comments/shares when no one sees posts. You make people pay to advertise to get more likes and then you don’t send the posts out to them that they want to see. Seems to me the law hasn’t caught up with technology yet.
Hey Janet, you’re right. If no one sees your posts it’s like you’re talking to yourself. Ads are really the way to be seen on Facebook in 2014 and moving forward. I know for marketers it can be frustrating to have to pay when we used to get this exposure for free, but the good thing about FB ads is they are extremely targeted which can save money. And generally ads on Facebook are more cost effective than print ads, and you receive analytics on the performance of the ad which is hard to get when doing print ads.