The hard truth is that social media isn’t what it used to be. Social vanity ( the more likes/ followers you have) isn’t the most important thing for your businesses’ social channels. Sure, none of us would be mad about having 15K followers on any platform, but it just isn’t going to get you as far as you’d like to imagine a large social following getting you.
This week I attended the Microsoft Digital Summit in Bellevue WA. A statistic that I was reminded of in a breakout session was the social media algorithm that Facebook for business has. A.K.A, only 2% of your fans will see your content.
I thought I would break it down for those readers that are small business owners, someone building their brand and or a new social media enthusiast.
Facebook introduced this algorithm in 2018, to “spark conversations and meaningful interactions between people.” It’s an algorithm designed by your personal analytics, thus building your individual newsfeed. In summary, content that receives the most engagement—reactions, comments, and shares—will be scored the highest and placed on the tip top of your newsfeed.
In layman's terms - Facebook doesn't want you to miss the highlight reel of your friends / family. Using your historical data from your account - combining your personal engagement on posts by your friends and even the brands you interact with the most, will build your newsfeed.
Something I’ve preached to my past marketing interns or even peers is that engagement is key. (This also trickles into Instagram for those of you wondering.)
According to Facebook, it defines engaging content and “meaningful interactions” based on:
Comments: Advice - Ask a question in your status / respond to comments - keep the conversations going. Activity in comments alerts Facebook that something worth talking about is happening on your post and will likely share with a broader audience.
Timing: Build your go-to list of friends / subscribers. Let your colleagues and peers know you just launched a piece of social content and you would appreciate an interaction - like, comment, share.
Interactive Posts: Posts that you might want to share and react to, such as:
A post from a friend looking for advice or even recommendations
Think polls or contests or giveaways
As a marketer on Facebook, you should focus on engagement as the pathway to reach your target audience. Let Facebook’s engagement metrics lead your measurement strategy: reactions, comments, and shares.
If you're a business that hasn't been paying attention to engagements on posts, you might have seen a dip in overall reach, viewings and referral traffic. However, if your pages are keeping the back-and-fourth conversations among clients, friends and peers going, you might not be experiencing the negative effects. Whoop, Whoop!
Advice: Pay to Play. If you have a solid piece of content, throw paid behind it when posting on Facebook, thus increasing the chances of the right audience being exposed to your posting.
Remember, you’ve already spent time and creative resources etc. on producing the piece - why not bump up the audience reach by spending a few more dollars and targeting those who want to see it?
Budget conscious? Watch organic postings and capitalize on the pieces that are bringing in engagements and interactions naturally. THEN, throw some paid behind it.
Looking for a brand audit in your social space? Let’s connect.
Hope you found something helpful!
Thanks for reading.