By now it’s unlikely that anyone will dispute the fact that marketing has entered a whole new space in recent years. Big-time marketers used to spend millions on campaigns that took up physical space on a billboard or in a magazine, effectively smothering any small-time competition. But then the digital space arrived and literally took off with the explosion of social media platforms. Now any digital marketer can reach thousands, even millions, of people with relative ease.
The kingpin of social media, Facebook, has been a key tool in the digital marketing game for some time now, so if you are not taking advantage of Facebook marketing for your business it’s probably time to get on board.
Still having doubts? Well, let’s see what Facebook has to offer digital marketers. Even some of the
basic statistics are impressive. For example, did you know that Facebook boasts a huge 1.7 billion monthly active users and well over a billion daily users. There are also many tens of millions of business pages on Facebook. It’s the most-used social media site among all ages, accounting for one in every six minutes spent online and one in every five minutes spent on mobile. In other words, pretty much everyone uses Facebook – and they use it a lot.
With the ability to create a Facebook page for your business, with Facebook marketing you can advertise your brand in ways that weren’t even possible not that long ago, and reach a global audience. So, missing out on this piece of the pie could be detrimental to your business. All you need is an effective Facebook marketing strategy that pays careful attention to Facebook’s News Feed algorithm and you could be harnessing Facebook’s massive resources to drive the success of your business.
What is the Facebook algorithm?
Unlike sites where everything you post automatically shows up for every person who follows you, Facebook uses an algorithm to determine what content appears in an individual’s News Feed.
While the Facebook algorithm is a complicated creature that apparently considers more than 100,000 individual factors to do what it does, in a nutshell its purpose is to provide its users with a better experience by exposing them to a more manageable amount of content.
According to Facebook, the average user had access to more than 1,500 posts per day but only looked at 300. So their News Feed algorithm looks at the thousands of factors or signals that Facebook uses to determine which posts should be among those 300 that get served up in a user’s News Feed.
In other words, the News Feed algorithm is how Facebook curates what would otherwise be an overwhelming amount of content into a more manageable chunk for the individual user. As Facebook itself puts it, “The goal of News Feed is to deliver the right content to the right people at the right time so they don’t miss the stories that are important to them.”
Facebook marketing for business and the Facebook algorithm
When it comes to your Facebook marketing strategy, it’s all about boosting the organic reach of your business page to ensure your content gets seen by as many people as possible. However, how the Facebook News Feed algorithm works has implications for the organic reach of your page.
Therefore, in light of Facebook’s impressive statistics, it’s worth finding out how to extend your content’s reach organically on this platform. By becoming familiar with the main levers in the algorithm, you’ll be better positioned to do what is required to help ensure your content is seen by more people.
What’s in the Facebook Algorithm?
While Facebook calculates the importance of Facebook pages according to several factors, the most prominent one is social interaction, rewarding things like engagement, relevance and timeliness.
For example, on a page level, the number of people ‘liking’ your page is no longer the main thing. Far more important for the algorithm, is whether you have real interactions with people. And even if that audience size is smaller, it still has more weight with the algorithm than a page with thousands of mute followers.
While the cues that count for the algorithm on the individual post level include things such as likes, clicks, comments and shares, it also looks at the amount of time spent viewing a post as an indicator of the sort of content that people want to see.
The bottom line, however, and the thing that really counts when it comes to Facebook marketing is something that we’ve been saying for ages, namely, quality. Quality content is the key!
Let’s talk Facebook marketing strategy
Social sharing is a critical part of digital marketing, but Facebook doesn’t appreciate a business page using Facebook just to promote its own content. So here are 5 tips to help you keep your posts circulating through the network.
- Go for high-quality content
Always share high-quality content by being informative, in whatever way that makes sense in your industry. Don’t simply reuse content from your page adverts, as sharing overly promotional posts, i.e. ones that solely push people to buy a product or do something specific without providing additional relevant and useful context, will be picked up by the algorithm and get less distribution. Avoid publishing pure text posts and focus more on sharing rich media, such as links, photos and video. - Focus on engagement
Keep posts short, use big, beautiful images, and quickly respond to people’s comments. If you share links to articles or blog posts, make sure they’re quality content that readers will want to spend time with. If you do give video a try, definitely make sure it’s something that will resonate with your audience. - Post about timely or trending topics
The Facebook algorithm likes fresh posts, although if a post is losing a bit of its fresh edge but lots of people are still actively commenting on or sharing it, then that sort of engagement may expand the reach of post. - Don’t use spam tactics, like click-bait
The Facebook algorithm weeds out click-bait headlines. Click-bait headlines are exaggerated headlines or ones that give little information about what the person will find if they click through. Facebook defines click-bait as “headlines that intentionally leave out crucial information, or mislead people, forcing people to click to find out the answer.” Here’s an example of a click-bait headline: The body builder used the protein powder and you won’t believe what happened. Make sure you share headlines that inform and set appropriate expectations by putting enough description in them. The algorithm will also look at where click-bait posts come from and, over time, links posted from domains or shared by pages that consistently post click-bait will appear lower in News Feed. - Ensure load time is fast for mobile sites
The speed with which your page opens for a mobile user can affect the reach of posts linking to your site.
Remember, for Facebook, it’s all about the user experience – not so much your user experience as a business, but rather the user experience of your target audience. So, your Facebook marketing strategy should be focused on staying current with the way Facebook operates, by placing a stronger emphasis on social ads in order to reach and engage with your audience in the way they want to be engaged with. The best way to ensure this is by creating posts that users find informative and relevant, which will produce more engagement and ultimately result in your posts being seen by more people.
Want to boost your social media engagement? Talk to the experts at digital marketing company Net Branding. Our Auckland-based team understands business and how best to use Facebook and other social media platforms to support real business growth. We’re just a phone call away, so contact us today.
