It looks like Facebook has changed its rules lately in a way that hurts business owners. Maybe Facebook is trying to get more people to pay for ads. But Facebook denies it.
People with “pages,” such as authors or other businesses, seem to be seeing their reach curtailed in the past couple of weeks. In other words, no longer are our Facebook page posts going to the feeds of all the people who “like” the page. Just some of them. And not that many of them, really.
For example, I have a friend who is a well-known writer, and I am subscribed both to her personal profile and her author page. She generally puts the same info on the author page as on the personal profile (but not vice versa). In the past couple of weeks, I’ve been seeing her personal posts, but not her author page posts.
That’s just a little anecdotal test. Are you seeing anything similar? I’ve heard complaints lately.
Of course, posts not getting through can be remedied if you, the author and business owner, pay for ads.
What does Facebook say? There was a post yesterday on Facebook’s blog addressing the concern. Here’s what Facebook marketing team member Brian Boland said:
1. There are more and more people with more and more pages out there, and more and more likes. There are too many of these page updates to stuff into anyone’s profile feed any more.
2. Facebook created an algorithm, six months ago or so, that tries to identify which posts you want to see in your profile and shows them to you. So if you haven’t communicated with your aunt for a while, her posts won’t show up in your feed. Nothing has changed since then in Facebook algorithms.
He denies that any of this has to do with trying to squeeze ad revenue out of business owners.
But he says the remedy is to buy ads. “Like TV, search, newspapers, radio and virtually every other marketing platform, Facebook is far more effective when businesses use paid media to help meet their goals.” (See below for link.)
I discussed this with various writers recently, and some said they were moving to Twitter for their primary marketing push.
Are you have problems with this?
Source: https://www.facebook.com/business/news/Organic-Reach-on-Facebook
Robin Bayne says
Absolutely. FB fan pages are no longer of much importance. My author page and a page I keep for my day job are rarely seen by followers. When I see a message that maybe 8-10 people have been “served” my page, I just shake my head.
Bonnie Engstrom says
Maybe it’s just as well that I’m not very good at using FB. It sounds as if it’s pretty much a waste of time as far as marketing and promotion goes.
Phyllis Wheeler says
So, is anyone feeling pretty successful about her or his page?
Carole Brown says
I can get anywhere from none to 200 comments/likes, but it depends on what I post. I’m not sure what causes; whether fb decides what’s important and what’s not. 🙁
Certain pictures (grandson, flowers, nature, etc) and/or winning awards, announcements about MY new books, etc. will gain more. (shrug) who knows?
Phyllis Wheeler says
Thanks, Carole! So it’s not pointless after all. Just chancy.
Phyllis Wheeler says
I ran across a statistic on this quoted in the Wall Street Journal for June 23. Business pages reached 6.5 percent of their fans with Facebook posts in March of this year, down from 16 percent in Feb. 2012, according to EdgeRank Checker, a social-media analytics firm.
The article (“Social Media Fail to Live Up to Early Marketing Hype”) also quotes a restaurant owner in New York City who has found a big loss in organic reach on Facebook. The restaurant, Indian Road Cafe, is looking to a new website and other digital marketing approaches rather than building up the Facebook audience.