We’ve recently been hearing a frequent question from a number of our clients: “Is it even worth it to be active on Facebook anymore, given how you have to pay for anyone to see your content?”
It’s true that Facebook’s continually evolving news feed algorithm has been placing less and less emphasis on brand-related content. There are so many variables at play that it’s hard to provide a concrete statistic, but some research shows that your posts may be organically reaching only 6.5 percent of your total fan base – or even less. Gone are the days when all of your organic posts can easily reach thousands of customers.
What we do know about Facebook’s news feed algorithm is that it favors timely and relevant content, rich content (video/photos/memes), content from publishers or news sources, and content from pages (or individuals) that you interact with. Put simply: Facebook is working to cherry pick content that is tailored to you and only you (hence, the questions and controversy surrounding social networks following the 2016 election).
And while there are a number of tactical measures we can take in social to help guide our audiences toward our content (this HubSpot article includes several tactics – from the “page feed” tab to boosting your posts), at the end of the day if we’re creating interesting content that people actually want to interact with – content that has a purpose, solves a problem or causes a few laughs – the number of people who consistently see our content will inherently increase.
What’s more, if our content is truly engaging or helpful/useful, the resulting likes, comments and shares will translate into more eyeballs via friends of the individuals who are engaging with our content.
In an ideal world we’d all be able to write a simple post and reach thousands of individuals who fit exactly within our key audience demographic (shout out to Facebook circa 2010). But with today’s Facebook we need to be more strategic. We need to have an audience in mind with each piece of content we write or produce – and we need to target those audiences accordingly.
Organic reach isn’t dead. It just takes some strategic thinking, some creativity, some effort toward writing compelling copy and capturing interesting or compelling imagery, and a really good working knowledge of whom you’re trying to reach with that content. And really, isn’t that what we’re paid to do as marketers?
