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The world of social media marketing is shifting and evolving and yes, it may affect your marketing strategy, so listen up!
When you’re marketing your business on Facebook, your posts ‘reach’ a certain amount of people – the two types of reach are Organic and Paid.
First, let’s get back to basics and define the term ‘Organic reach.’ This means content that has not been paid for to boost its performance. It solely performs based on the quality of its content. ‘Paid reach’ is defined by feeding money into your posts so their performance is improved, and, as a result, has a greater reach. (Simply, they reach more people). Up until now, in general, businesses were performing well through Organic reach and may have been using Paid reach if they wanted to push things a little bit further.
BUT WAIT! This is where the change of events happen! Facebook have released this statement that will change the universe and gain world peace!! Okay, maybe not that far… but it may impact your business strategy.
Facebook: “We expect organic distribution of an individual page’s posts to gradually decline over time as we continually work to make sure people have a meaningful experience on the site.”
EdgeRank, a term given to Facebook to describe the algorithm of what is displayed on the newsfeed and how high it is, unfortunately, is now without a pulse. Many markets, including yourself, may have already noticed a massive decline in organic reach.- I for sure am guilty of sitting in front of my computer, looking at the reports, scratching my head. The reason behind this decision is to provide users with relevant content from friends and brands they are interested in.
Man in the back row, what was that? How will this affect your business? Well, in summary, in order to reach the same % of your fans as you were originally, you have to now pay in order to reach that same amount. However, as with every rule, there are exceptions. Brands can still do okay and be effective for ‘free’, it just may be a little more difficult.
According to some, social media is becoming less about the ‘social’ and more about the ‘media.’ This goes back to the evolution of the purpose of social media. For a service that was originally free, business will now have to pay (paid advertising).
Let’s discuss how you can maximize the effectiveness of your posts, because the more the user interacts with the content, the more Facebook will show that ad. This boils down to how relevant and engaging your content is (also important for SEO purposes). Use keywords and content that captures the attention of your audience, at the right time. Content that will encourage conversation and that your audience is likely to share. A safe approach may be Facebook re-targeting, this means only showing content to those who have already been on your website.
For 2014, make sure you grow your business with the developing social media channels, ensuring you are using the system effectively to work in your favour. Don’t be put off- Facebook advertising, along with Google advertising, is still a great and cost-effective way to advertise your business. Be sure to broaden your marketing mind and explore different ways to advertise too i.e. Google +.
This is the moment when I say goodbye, shed a little tear and push you on your merry way. Good luck.