Extending Your Reach: Facebook Changes & Company Pages

With branded Facebook pages, content that your company posts only appears on a percentage of your follower news feeds. On September 20th, Facebook revised the Edgerank algorithm that determines those percentages.The number of follower feeds your news appears on is considered your “Reach.” Simply put, it's how many people you reached. Prior to the recent revision, posted content averaged a reach of about 25%. Facebook claims that post-revision content now reaches around 19% of followers. Most people I hear from are reporting lower numbers.Just like the newer Google algorithms, it comes as no surprise that the new Facebook algorithms reward content that is deemed to be the most engaging, relevant and original. From my own experience, posting our e-newsletter to the Great Reach page garnered a reach of almost 45%. A link to an article from the DMA, however, only had a reach of 17%. Hence, there is a clear emphasis on content.The new algorithm also takes into account the number of people who click, like, comment on and share your posts. These actions also boost your reach. Conversely, you're penalized if people hide your posts, opt out of receiving them, or report an issue. This underscores the importance of having relevant, interested followers. I've known printers to ask friends (and friends of friends) to like their page just to grow a following. The numbers may seem impressive but a large, disengaged following will impact overall Facebook effectiveness. I see this happen with some of the pages we manage for clients. A company with 70 followers benefits from a greater weekly reach than one with 1,200 followers.When it comes to Facebook followers, always opt for quality rather than quantity. The same holds true for your content!I'm happy to answer any questions regarding social media, outbound or inbound marketing. Feel free to reach out anytime at pat@greatreachinc.com.