The End of Organic Reach on Facebook

I have been anticipating this since Facebook went public.  On June 5, 2014, Facebook's Ads Product lead, Brian Boland, wrote a lengthy post explaining why organic reach is declining and what we should be doing to effectively use Facebook for business. 

For more than a year, Facebook has been adjusting their Edge Rank, which is their unique algorithm, dictating what and how many of your fan page posts users see in their News Feed on Facebook. Brands and Social Media Consultants like myself who manage clients' Fan Pages have been concerned with the declining organic reach. 

What Is the Definition of Organic Reach?

Facebook defines organic reach as “how many people you can reach for free on Facebook by posting to your Page.” The article from Brian Boland acknowledges that this declining organic reach on Facebook is a major pain point for many businesses and social media managers. However, he assures us that Facebook is committed to helping us “understand what’s driving this change so your business can succeed on Facebook.”

What do You Think: Is Declining Organic Reach Related To Facebook Ad Revenue?

Of course it is! The declining organic reach is pressuring brands and businesses to spend money on Facebook advertising, thus increasing their advertising revenues.  

Of course Facebook says this is absolutely not true and that slashing organic reach has nothing to do with money. Do they really think that we buy that?

Instead, Facebook says they need to control the content any user sees in their News Feed because: “On average, there are 1,500 stories that could appear in a person’s News Feed each time they log onto Facebook. As a result, competition in News Feed — the place on Facebook where people view content from their family and friends, as well as businesses — is increasing, and it’s becoming harder for any story to gain exposure in News Feed.”

Boland goes on to say that in order to give it's users the best experience, Facebook needs to look at thousands of ranking factors that are relative to each user. He confirms that 300 or so of the most relevant stories get fed into a users News Feed.

Regardless of Facebook's denial about the declining organic reach not being tied to ad revenue, they will still end up benefiting, don't they? Brands and businesses are essentially forced to pay-to-play on Facebook and invest in a paid advertising campaign.  Granted, it's still cheaper than Google Adwords, but for how much longer? We shall see.

Facebook knows that a brand still values their fans and that a fan can still drive engagement and revenue. Boland wrote: “when an ad has social context — in other words, when a person sees their friend likes your business — your ads drive, on average, 50% more recall and 35% higher online sales lift…”

How Can You Use Facebook For Your Business Now?

It all starts with a comprehensive social media marketing strategy, which includes building communities on other valuable social networks like Google+, Pinterest, Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram, and any other relevant social network beneficial to the clients' business. Create a social media marketing plan if you will. Create your fan page with interesting images and content.  Then spend a little money on Facebook advertising to get more people to like your page. Creating compelling relevant content that gets liked and shared must be your focus from then on out. It’s pretty much the only way for your likes aka fans to engage and share your content.  Boland's states:

“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. Your business won’t always appear on the first page of a search result unless you’re paying to be part of that space. Similarly, paid media on Facebook allows businesses to reach broader audiences more predictably, and with much greater accuracy than organic content.”

I have to strongly disagree!  A solid and on-going SEO strategy will do wonders with keeping your business on the first page of a search result. Doing it right will get you there and stay there without a paid Google AdWords PPC campaign!

In Closing

Results Marketing has rolled out several successful Facebook advertising campaigns for clients that helped them reach their goals. Facebook's targeting options and the custom audience features make this an incredibly useful advertising medium....for a reasonable budget.

If you’re looking to expand your Facebook organic reach and let Facebook start working for you, call me at (707) 853-0702 and request a social media marketing consultation.