Written by Jim Stadey for the use of Small Business: Working within the confines of the recent Facebook changes without resorting to extensive paid ads. Recently there have been a few changes to Facebook that I have been examining carefully. CHANGE ONE. Facebook has changed the algorithm that determines if you see a recent post by a page you have liked in your news feed. The effect of this change comes across as beneficial for the consumer. (assuming that a page is run by a business) What it does is examine the pages and friends that you have recently interacted with in order to attempt to gauge your level of interest in that page/person. Then over time it phases the posts of pages/people off of your feed. This means if you want to stay informed on a friend/business/group ect you will have to maintain some level of interaction with their posts. (like/share/click ect) What this means for business specifically is that people you may have won over initially with interesting/engaging content will now be unable to see your posts. To deal with this situation: Scenario 1: For a business/individual with a developed following. You will notice now that posts that used to be seen by over 100% of your following are now being viewed by 5-20% of your following. This reduced exposure is going to slow your progress in securing new likes. As less total people see the post, there is a smaller chance of them interacting with it and it showing up on the feed of one of their contacts. To combat this you need to learn to streamline posts for the specific purpose of maximizing exposure potential. Not every post needs to be built this way, but if you build a "call to action" post into your regular posting schedule you will see both a quantifiable growth in secured likes but also keep people interacting with your page in a way that ensures that they will see following posts. (those posts where you exclaim: "buy this" or "this is interesting" The posts that get them to buy your product/use your service.) To construct a post to maximize engagement you: 1. Upload a picture (Even if you are posting about a link) - pictures ensure that you can: A. post a caption that contains valuable information. (a web link, contest information, your tag line, a call to action) B.When a viewer shares the post with the pic and associated valuable info, that info will make it onto the feeds of the people sharing your post, increasing your chance at some viral expansion.(I know these sentences are getting long, my apologies) If you do not construct your post around an uploaded picture, any sharing of that post will only convey the link itself and you will lose valuable efficiency. 2. Develop a title(tag line) with a call to action: (I like this term, my friend Jake from Modo uses it alot) You have to assume that people see tons of posts as they parse through their daily feed. You want to stand out and get their attention. Whatever this tag line is, it should be geared to get the attention of the type of people who your fanbase is primarily comprised of. Even if they just read the tag line and look at the provided picture you want to be able to convey a reason to have them “Like” your post/page and/or “Share” your post on their wall. 3. A strong, well developed message that takes the place of a caption for the picture: This message is what people will see on their own feed when a friend shares the post. It is also the message you will have the chance to get across to anyone who has gone beyond the cursory interest it took to click on the picture. This is your chance. Assume that this person has never heard of you and that after this they may never again. (With the restrictions on your posts now, they may never see another post. Make this count: Include your tag line again, include your company name, address, phone number, website and anything else you would like a first time potential customer to see/know about you. Scenario 2: For those businesses/individuals just starting a facebook page and trying to develop a fanbase. You will quickly realise that posts you make immediately after your pages conception will result in very few views. Do not be discouraged. It is indeed true that it was easier to get a page started in the past. One of the reasons that Facebook made this change is because they realised the inherent value of a Facebook page for a business. The validity of using social media over the last few years has gone from theory to confirmed fact. Knowing that, you have to make some careful decisions. A. When you first start your page, get everyone you know involved. You NEED them to like your page. Even having all your friends like your page will only be a temporary chance at some viral exposure though. Very quickly after liking your page out of friendship you will (understandably) lose their interest if they are not somehow associated with your product. The first posts you make (The ones friends and family see when they first like your page) need to involve a way to coerce them into “sharing” the post. B. The first posts you make will probably never directly sell your product/service in any measurable way. You want to be gearing every post to maximise interest (follow the directions listed in the previous section.) C. …. consider paying facebook to “Advertise” the post. It is important to distinguish the difference between “advertising” and “boosting”. Both cost $$ and sound similar but are very different. (I will explain that in the second part of this document.) When you build an advertisement, do it with the same method of maximising post efficiency that we have covered. This post can be directed at specific groups There are a lot of options here to look at. Make sure you are advertising within your own city to start. (Unless you are a shipping company or deal with out-of-town clients a lot.) Facebook has set this system up for you to determine your own budget. I have never been one for paying for Facebook ads, but If you are starting a page now, you will have to accept that to get started this might be the best idea. Knowing that there will be an inherent cost, make your advertisement count. (As before, assume the person seeing it is seeing it for the first time and potentially will never hear about you again.) CHANGE TWO Facebook has obviously observed the value it represents to business and has carefully instituted an infrastructure to leech money carefully. By splitting your options between “Advertising” and “Boosting” they have you pay in small installments for two very different (yet linked) services. “Paid Advertising” Is built to develop your pages total number of likes. This allows you to target Facebook users based on all kinds of valuable criteria. Initially, before changing the feed algorithms, You could easily reach new people through the people who started interacting with your page. Now with the changes in place, it is increasingly hard to get exposure to someone who is not already involved with your page. It is definitely possible to grow your page without the help of paid advertising posts, but it will take a lot of time. As with anything you pay time or money (or a combination of both) If you feel you have the time to micromanage posting and research different existing groups and PUSH your page out there - that is great, realize it is now harder than ever before. If you decide to give paid advertising a shot: remember to max your moneys worth by including all the valuable info needed to convert a viewer into a fan. “Post Boosting” Is a system that takes that algorithm and removes your post from the feeds of people who do not stay in constant interaction with your page. This is different from “Paid Advertising” as it is geared to hit ONLY those who have already liked your page. It is frustrating when you realize that even though you have your “1000” likes (or whatever your target number is) that very few people are still seeing your posts. There are a couple ways to max your chance of getting around this system without paying as well. A. Give each post a reason for people to interact with it. (I have developed a system where once a week or so - sometimes more often - I develop a post that rewards interaction. (I give away free product in a contest where the winners are drawn from among those who interact with the post.) This type of post can become repetitive and people may lose interest if you don’t post anything interesting to read. Developing a relationship with your fan base where there is a mix of content designed for you to maintain/sustain the interest (measured by interaction over time - even if a person thinks they are interested in your page, Facebook determines the posts they see on their past interaction. DO NOT FORGET THAT.) This type of post is meant for the dual benefit of keeping people onboard to see your other posts AND giving you yet another opportunity to make an efficient post to potentially hit a few new people through that small chance of virality. B. Facebook Groups. These still exist. People use them often to discuss common interests. The interesting (and valuable) part of groups is that you can manually add people. This is both very valuable and potentially dangerous. If you build a group to complement your page, you now have a collection of Facebook accounts that you have a guaranteed. pipeline to. (People in groups receive notification of new posts in the group as the base setting of their Facebook account) This is definitely a feature that if abused will lead to people ignoring and even reporting your page for spam if not dealt with correctly. Upon receiving results of strategic posts I had been making after the Facebook changes, I made a Facebook group where in its own description I made a promise not to spam members with information they were not interested in. I use this group for the sole purpose of letting interested members become notified whenever I am running a sale through my business. “Boosting” Can be valuable for established pages to ensure that post content is being seen by a higher % of the people liking a page. Again time and money are considered here. if you do not have the time to grind and grind then paying a small amount to get more exposure might work for you. “Boosting” for new pages might initially seem useless, as it only ensures that people who have already liked your page will see a post. You need to consider that to gain virality - that you want a larger base group of people to see a post. So maybe pairing up boosting with a post designed for max interaction can help to push it closer to that targeted virality. I hope that this helps a bit. Facebook is a valuable tool for business. It is important to adapt and evolve your Facebook marketing strategy just like any other marketing strategy. Carefully examining how and why you post will ensure the best value for the time you put in. Though I advocate using Facebook as a free service, remember I make the time to evaluate and consider posting strategies. For businesses just starting on Facebook and for those without the amount of time needed to dedicate to it: Paid advertising is definitely a valid option to consider. Just remember to use these tips to ensure you are getting the right value for your investment. -Jim
Posted on: Mon, 22 Jul 2013 21:00:05 +0000
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