Eric HammisIf you are any bit familiar with Facebook, then you are probably aware of how much Facebook loves to make changes. Sometimes it feels like there is something new on a weekly, maybe even a daily basis. Yes, Facebook loves to keep you on your toes.
A big change in the last few years has been the transition from organic to paid reach. Prior to say 2012, Facebook was basically a free ride for advertisers. During this time, Facebook was in constant need for new brand content. I know, seems strange, right? But during this time, it was on the fast track to becoming the most integrated social media outlet on the web, so it began letting brands create business pages that published to people’s news feeds. It was a great time for business owners and marketers as they could reach just about every corner of their market space with organic reach.
But Facebook quickly realized there was a problem. More and more content began flowing into people’s news feeds, and before we knew it, a lot of content was being lost and flushed down to the bottom of the news feed. Also, people simply weren’t spending enough time on their news feeds to keep up with the increase in content.
This has created a decrease in reach, and for business owners and marketers, that’s a big deal. Now here’s where the confusion comes into play. It’s easy to blame Facebook and Mr. Zuckerberg and his little henchmen for the decrease in reach. The obvious reason to blame for the decrease is that Facebook wants to FORCE advertisers and business owners into spending more money on paid ads to get back their reach.
However, this isn’t the reason for the decrease in organic reach. Facebook has always been about putting the user’s experience above all else. And because of this, advertisers and business posts have had to take a back seat in order for users to enjoy their Facebook experience. I mean let’s face it, a majority of Facebook users are still using Facebook to check in on their friends and family, not to be sold on products. So before we begin tossing hand grenades at Facebook from our trenches, take a look at the overall picture.
So what does all this mean for us marketers and business owners? It just means we have to be a little more strategic with our posts in order to reach our intended audience. Work on strategies that will get others to like and share your posts. Spending a little coin on some of your more important posts is certainly an easy way to get more reach as well. If you’re familiar with Facebook, you should know by now that changes to this little game aren’t going to stop any time soon. So be sure you are ahead of the curve and pay attention to what is happening next.
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