if you’re a small business owner, and you’ve posted to your business’ facebook page in the past, you may have noticed a notification under each post with how many people your post reached. some of your posts have may more than 100, some may have less than 20. knowing your business page has a few hundred followers, this number may seem quite discouraging.
so what gives?
why is it that with several hundred followers, your posts are only being seen by a fraction of those people?
enter the facebook algorithm.
if you’re new to facebook for business, you may not have even heard of such a thing. but that’s ok, we’ll help explain.
facebook can be a fantastic resource when it comes to showcasing your work, keeping customers informed and marketing your business. arguably, it is also a pay-to-play platform which is frustrating for many business owners. facebook’s audience (approximately 2.74 billion active users each month*) is their largest customer. not their advertisers.
read that again.
facebook’s audience is their largest and most important customer. not businesses. not advertisers.
so, it only makes sense for facebook to show content to their most important customer, their audience, that will keep their audience engaged and on the platform for as long as possible. after all, this is how they make their money, based on impressions and clicks on ads from their paying advertisers. their audience is who is scrolling and clicking, which in turn makes them money.
so what does that mean for businesses?
if facebook’s audience isn’t typically engaging with business posts, those types of posts are going to be seen less, to make room for posts that the audience will best resonate with and engage with. mix in paid advertisements, and the average person that spends 37 minutes* per day scrolling through Facebook may never encounter the posts that you’ve worked so hard on. just because they’re from a business.
think of it as a pyramid. at the top of the pyramid (facebook’s most important content) are posts from family and friends, especially posts that your mutual friends engage with. in the middle of the pyramid are paid advertisements, from all types of businesses. at the very bottom of the pyramid are business’ every-day organic posts. it is difficult to get those posts above two layers of posts. especially without paying for it.
your posts may never stand a chance.
with all of the posts that flood facebook’s newsfeed and the formula for facebook’s algorithm, you may feel defeated.
how will you get your message out to your customers?
there are several ways to ensure your posts are being seen, and it won’t cost an arm and a leg. contact us today and let us help you win back your business’ post reach!
*source: hootsuite
Very good statement and explanation.
Thank you.