Who will really see my post on my business fan page in Facebook?
I don’t want to get into the technicalities of Facebook’s algorithm. If you were to read some of the comments on various blogs on the subject, you will see various opinions. So let’s stay high level with some generally accepted figures. In years past, and I will say for simplistic reasons, the years prior to Facebook going public, a business could expect to see an organic reach of a post in the 15-20% range. With more recent algorithm changes, that percentage is 5% or less.
The cynic in me says that FB, since going public, needs to develop more revenue streams to meet Wall Street expectations. But, as my business partner, Dale Brose, says, “who ever said marketing was free?” Facebook will suggest that there is so much content being created and that the competition for space in the News Feed in FB between family, friends and businesses, it just can’t show it all. So FB utilizes it algorithm and takes into account thousands of factors relevant to each user when determining what posts and stories will show up in your News Feed.
So, are “Likes” even relevant to a business anymore?
Growing likes can be debatable. But, I will suggest that it depends on your business objective. I would argue, yes, if you have the right perspective in mind. If a business were to run a Like campaign in Facebook, and you went into it with the mindset you were doing it for brand awareness, you will be successful. If you went into it cause you felt that if you grew your likes to 10,000 and believed that 10,000 fans would see your daily posts, you will fail since roughly 500 or less would see the post.
I do believe Likes or Fans do have value. For instance:
- Fans make your ads more effective. When an ad has social context, in other words, when a person sees their friend likes your business, your ads drive roughly 50% more recall and about a 35% higher online sales lift.
- You can use insights (Insight report in FB) about your fans–like where they live and their likes and interests–to inform decisions about reaching your current and prospective customers.
- Fans also make the ads you run on Facebook more efficient in the ads auction. Ads with social context are a signal of positive quality of the ad, and lead to better auction prices.
- Once you have a large enough fan base, you can utilize the “Look Alike” audience feature to have Facebook go find a larger audience that you can market to.
Now, let’s look at it subconsciously a bit. If I visit a business FB page that has 30,000 likes and one that has 200 likes, I tend to be more curious about the one that has 30,000 likes. It makes me think I might be missing out on something with this brand! So many people like it! Real? Maybe, maybe not. It does for me. I believe it adds credibility.
Bottom Line
Look, Facebook is not for every business. But, at LTR Digital Group, when we work with a client, we determine where their audience is “hanging out”, and if it is Facebook, it is an excellent platform to create strategies around.
If you are logged into Facebook (like a majority of us are), FB collects up to 1500 data points on their users. As a marketer, this is extremely powerful. Some people I talk with think it is creepy, but I tell them that instead of seeing ads that will be totally irrelevant to me, I am seeing ads I may have a true interest in learning more about.
If you would like to learn more, feel free to contact us!
