Facebook Changing Algorithm. Again.

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Facebook announced in April that they will be, yet again, changing their algorithm for its timeline. Some marketing professionals are shouting that this new change will directly impact their ability to market. Facebook claims that this new change is in response to listening to customer feedback. The change will rate content shared, commented and liked by your Facebook friends higher than paid ads and content from pages you don’t interact with as much.

Facebook has also said that they predict that organic reach and even paid reach will be hurt by this change. So the question brought before us is this: Is Facebook still a useful platform for small business owners to market their companies?

The real answer? Yes AND no. I know, you’re shocked. But let me explain. Ever since Facebook started to become a pay to play site, I’ve been telling my clients not to use Facebook ads a whole lot. Maybe once or twice a month. Why? Well, the main thing small businesses need to focus on is what content they are posting. If you are posting good content then people will comment, share and like your posts which will make it be seen by more people. If you only buy reach and don’t focus on content then even if people see your content, it won’t be effective.

So if you only focused on reach (how many people see your posts) and buying ads, then Facebook may become a big struggle for your business. Your reach is going to suffer and people won’t get talking about your company as much.

BUT, if you focus on generating great content that is interactive, engaging and share worthy, then you still might see a small dip in reach, but it won’t be near much as companies who only focus on buying ads.

How do you make great content?

Graphics, Photos and most importantly, Video. Video is becoming a must not just on Facebook, but on ALL social media sites.

Our Video Creation services allow your company to get up to 5 new, HD videos every single month. This way, you are connecting and gaining the attention of your audience each and every week.

In conclusion, don’t fret when it comes to using Facebook for your business because it is very likely they will change their algorithm in a few months. What you need to fret about is creating great content for you business.

Scott Cunningham

“Likes” Don’t Equal Reach

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You work hard to produce great content and to get people to “Like’ your Facebook page. You get so excited when you see more and more people joining your site.

The first milestone is always getting your first “Like”. Okay so that’s pretty easy. Your second milestone is 100 Likes. You work hard and get 100 Likes. After you make some posts you go back and see how many people are liking, sharing, commenting and are being reached by your post. That’s when you see it. Now common sense would tell you if you have 100 Likes, you should have close to 100 views on every post you make right? Wrong. With Facebook’s new algorithm’s they are trying to find information that they feel you want to see based on previous searches, posts clicks, etc. For people like me, it’s very frustrating. I personally feel like if someone voluntarily decides to Like my page, they obviously want to see the content I’m sharing! Facebook is making it their business to show you content they feel you want to see. How do you feel about this? What are your thoughts. Comment below.

The reason Facebook is doing this is because they want businesses to pay to play. This means that they want you to buy ads in order for people to see your content. By doing this, small businesses aren’t able to reach as many people organically like they used to. I understand that Facebook wants to generate more revenue, but why not let small businesses reach people organically like the did before but if they want to reach even more people, then allow them to buy ads. Don’t punish creative small business owners by making them pay to share their content.

I want to hear from you. Do you agree with Facebook’s new algorithms? Comment below!

Do Facebook ‘Likes’ Matter Anymore?

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#Facebook

It used to be that you measured your success on Facebook by how many ‘Likes’ or back then, ‘Fans’ you had on your page. But now that Facebook is moving towards a pay to play site, do ‘Likes’ matter any more? Here’s what I mean.

Let’s say your page has 100 ‘Likes’, but you create some pretty cool posts and people like and share that content and your posts reach 250-300 people. That’s pretty good right? Compare that to a page that has 1000 ‘Likes’ but posts some not so great content and only reaches 80-100 people. Which page would you rather have? People tend to ‘Like’ pages and then never interact, share, like or even SEE what that page is posting.

images-1The reason is because Facebook wants to generate revenue in order to boost their sales. That’s fine except that now Facebook is becoming an expensive site to do business on. If you pay $5.00 to boost a post you can see your reach increase by 500-800 people. This will obviously help you gain some ‘Likes’ but more importantly, it gets you a further reach. I contend that your reach is more important than your ‘Likes’ on Facebook. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t try to get more likes, I’m just saying that even when people like your Facebook page, they are not guaranteed to see your content. I wish Facebook would let your posts reach those individuals who voluntarily ‘like’ your page see your content. They obviously want to see your content or they wouldn’t have liked your page in the first place. That’s another post for another time though.

I would love to know what other marketers think. Whether you completely disagree, fully agree or kind of agree, I would love to hear what you have to say. Will Facebook’s ‘pay to play’ hurt businesses trying to get their info out on social media? Post your thoughts below!

We are always looking for more blogs to follow that deal with social media and marketing. So please put your link below and let’s connect! I’m trying to get better at writing blog posts so bear with me!

StC

http://visualelementmedia.com

scott@visualelementmedia.com