First things first, Facebook has become an excellent hub for businesses and entrepreneurs alike. And, for the most part – it has been a mutually beneficial platform for Facebook themselves, and its users. However, unless you have been hiding in a closet for the past six (6) or so months, the changes in the Facebook algorithm have left some users completely out in left field.
A perfect example is where you may have written or delivered a quality post, packed with value last year, and when you went to recycle the post (which is totally acceptable with evergreen content) you may have found the interactions was no where close to the same, engagement was way off or minimal, and it simply wasn’t converting.
When we post with intention, we want it to convert. Be that the conversion is a relationship foundation, a new customer or distributor, etc.
Let’s take a look at what we currently know about the Facebook platform in and of itself, and why if you are a business owner, entrepreneur, network marketer and so on, need a presence there.
Facebook Facts
- Worldwide, there are over 1.94 billion monthly active Facebook users for March 2017 – which is an 18% increase year over year. (Source: Facebook 5/3/17) What this means for you: In case you had any lingering doubts, statistically, Facebook is too big to ignore.
- On average, the Like and Share Buttons are viewed across almost 10 million websites daily. (Source: Facebook as of 10/2/2014) That is one large, organic reach.
- Age 25 to 34, at 29.7% of users, is the most common age demographic.(Source:Emarketer 2012) What this means for you: This is the prime target demographic for many businesses’ marketing efforts, and you have the chance to engage these key consumers on Facebook. This stat is a bit dated, and some articles suggest the age demographic may have shifted slightly – ranging up to age 40.
- Highest traffic occurs mid-week between 1 to 3 pm. However, according to a recent Forbes article, a Facebook post at 7pm will result in more clicks on average than posting at 8pm. You have the potential to reach more consumers and drive higher traffic to your site during peak usage times, but people may be more likely to be more engaged in the evenings. Decide what the goal is, and work it from there. Keep in mind, if you are running a global business – time zones are an important factor, especially when scheduling posts.
- Average time spent per Facebook visit is about 20 minutes. (Source: Infodocket) What this means for you: You could have a short time period to make your first impression. Use it wisely with relevant, interesting and unique posts, value and offers in order to get the most return on your efforts.
- 42% of marketers report that Facebook is critical or important to their business. (Source: State of Inbound Marketing 2016) What this tells us is, this is a crowded marketplace, but you can’t afford to sit it out, because odds are, that your competition is there. The key is to use Facebook marketing correctly and make sure that your efforts stand out from the crowd.
Now, knowing these stats, let’s consider the Facebook algorithm now.
The goal of News Feed is to deliver the right content to the right people at the right time so they don’t miss the stories that are important to them
The Facebook algorithm determines what any one of its users sees in their News Feed at a given time. To say it has a huge impact on the Facebook experience would be a gross understatement.
Fortunately, for marketers especially, in the last few years Facebook has begun to tell us more and more about how the News Feed algorithm works, what it favors, what it doesn’t, and what it means for business Pages.
And, with insights available to Facebook business pages, it actually allows for us to determine who sees what, where they saw it, when they saw it – you get the idea. This is especially helpful when using ad campaigns, or scheduled posts for example.
If you are not using them, you need to be.
Hootsuite Recommendations for Best Quality Practices for Posts
- Share high-quality content whenever possible
- If you’re sharing links to articles or blog posts on your website, ensure that they’re quality content that readers will want to spend time with
- Aim to be informative (in whatever way that makes sense for your business and your industry)
- When you share videos, aim to choose ones that will resonate with your audience
- Don’t reuse content from ads for organic Page posts as these posts will likely receive less organic distribution
I hate to have to include this one … but please don’t be spammy. We all know what those posts look like. Bottomline, they aren’t offering any good for your business, and frankly, Facebook algorithm doesn’t like them either!
The Facebook algorithm is the thousands of factors, or signals, that Facebook uses to determine which posts should be among the ones that gets served up in a user’s News Feed. Of the 1,500 posts users have access to every day, they will only see around 300 of them. Being intentional, creating quality content, engagement through comments and likes (from you) will serve up better chances of you falling into that 300.
I mean, this should be the goal. Right?
There are a few factors that the News Feed ranking (in this case the Facebook algorithm) takes into account.
When deciding whether (or not) to serve a piece of content to a user, the algorithm considers the following:
- Who posted it
- What type of content it is
- When it was posted
- What interactions it has
Now, the algorithm itself is far more complex that just those few points, but practice leading your posts while being able to answer these questions or statements. Basically, why should anyone care about what you are posting?
What problem for a consumer are you offering a solution to.
Are your posts receiving the right type of interaction? A clear indicator of this results in the tone being negative or positive. Are they value driven, written with the other person in mind – are they catchy openers or simply clickbait headlines?
After all things considered, Facebook algorithm is always changing. Some tweaks affect businesses, others do not. I encourage you to stay in the know, without the worry. I aim to provide updated information on the website so that it leaves the guess work out of it for you – and provides you with the need to know versus the needed to be said information.
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Did this help you? If so, I would greatly appreciate if you shared this content and commented below.
I look forward to hearing from you and love to know, does the term ‘zoomers’ fit you?
Rick Billings
COACH. TRAINER. HOME BUSINESS ENTREPRENEUR.
Email: rick@rickbillings.com
Facebook: http://facebook.com/rickbillingsentrepreneur/
Skype: rbillings3
