It is now common knowledge that your business needs a Facebook page. This is not a suggestion. It is not an argument. It is simply the truth. With Facebook rapidly approaching two billion users, it is quite surprising that some brands are still playing games with their digital marketing. An effectively managed Facebook page allows your company to reach new customers, engage existing customers, build connections, tell your brand story and ultimately increase your revenue.
Facebook has made it so easy to setup a business page that there is really no excuse. The abundance of Facebook pages, however, has created a situation that there is now so much “noise”, that scrolling through your timeline can become overwhelming.
The Challenge
To ensure that your brain is not fried from information overload…Facebook created the now infamous “Facebook algorithm”. Simply put, this algorithm determines what you see on your timeline. To keep you addicted to your newsfeed, Facebook uses the algorithm to place what they determine to be the most relevant content in front of you. This algorithm inherently hurts businesses because Facebook gives priority to updates from your friends before posts published by business pages. Not only that, if you follow multiple business pages, the Facebook algorithm tries to place what it considers your most “relevant” pages in front of you.
The Plot Thickens
The effect of the Facebook algorithm brings into focus one of the most important elements of mastering Facebook. How do we deal with the decline in the “organic reach” of your Facebook posts?
According to Facebook:
Organic reach is the total number of unique people who were shown your post through unpaid distribution.
Paid reach is the total number of unique people who were shown your post as a result of ads.
The algorithm issue combined with the fact that Facebook is a business has resulted in a significant decline in organic reach. There was a time that if you had 1000 followers, an average of 700 people or 70% of your followers, would see your posts. Today, organic reach averages between 2% – 7%. Which means that if you have 1000 followers only around 70 of them would see your post.
The Solution
In order to reach your followers and your ideal audience, you need to have a strategy to both create awesome content as well as to promote that content. Compared to traditional advertising, it is far easier to reach your ideal customers with social media….at a fraction of the cost. Make no mistake about it, Facebook is an awesome marketing tool in the right hands. It’s time to let Facebook work for your business.
