There was a time when fan page content on Facebook was easily accessible in your home feed with little filtering. We also accepted that Facebook was an ad-driven engine, so we tolerated the ads in the sidebar. However, many Facebook fan page owners have complained that their impressions have diminished by almost 50%. This means less eyeballs on their Facebook posts. It was like Facebook took a virtual machete to our page content, and sliced the number of impressions in half. The reason is simple – Facebook was built around advertising and tapping into featured content was a logical step to keep the shareholders happy. So, the Featured Posts model rolled out and forced page owners to pay up to get more eyeballs. If you want more eyeballs, you have to pay for it. Hence, we have what I like to call the “Facebook Squeeze” and it’s only getting worse.
According to Facebook, approximately 15% of your Facebook content is seen in your friend’s feed. All of this is driven by Facebook’s EdgeRank algorithm that weighs affinity, engagement and life span of a post. However, this Promoted Posts ad model turns this algorithm on its head as it took this organic approach and turned it into a paid model. For example, I do not follow Wal-Mart on Facebook, yet their promoted post appears at the top of my feed. All because they paid a little extra to get their foot into my feed.
Oh Myyyy
It really became apparent when I noticed that Star Trek’s George Takei, addressed this issue of his Facebook content not making it into the feed of his fans. With over 3 million+ fans on his Facebook fan page, this is a sign that everyone is feeling the squeeze.
It was like Facebook took a virtual machete to our page content, and sliced the number of impressions in half.
In a recent article in Mashable, it looks Takei is addressing this in an chapter of his upcoming book, aptly titled “Oh Myyy” in which he challenges Facebook’s Promoted Posts feature.
Here’s the video segment:
Beating the Squeeze: What can you do?
In light of this squeeze, there are some things that you can do to get your content in front of your fans:
1) Serve up what your fans want: Now, more than ever, you have to think about your content and what is generating engagement. Do the research and identify the trends for user engagement. Facebook shares, by nature tend to generate more traffic, while keeping the Edgerank algorithm happy. In addition, larger images work and I have seen this consistently on pages, as users are more likely to share anything with an image over a traditional link.
2) Have your fans add you to their Interests: George Takei has already taken the step and asked his fans to add his page to their interests. All is required is simply selecting the option to “Add to Interests” list.
3) Get Notified: Facebook has a built-in feature that enables fans to receive notifications and show your page in their news feed. You can encourage them to have them add you.
Hopefully, this will help give your content more visibility organically. However, I think page owners may be forced to pay up to be seen at some point.
Have you been squeezed? Feel free to share your thoughts and experiences with Edgerank and Facebook’s Promoted Posts platform.
Recent Comments