Every Facebook user has felt the sting of an unnoticed post. You come up with a funny image, poignant observation or perfect joke, and all you hear are crickets. How is it that some things you share get lots of likes and shares, and others seem to disappear into the ether? Facebook uses many algorithms and factors in determining what people see and when.
The first few minutes of this video are absolutely essential watching:
This video explains why Facebook has to filter what users see: there’s just too much content! Any individual with a few hundred friends and a few dozen Page likes could be exposed to thousands of posts every day if it were left unfiltered. That competition is one reason why Facebook makes it possible for individuals to decide who they want to see in their News Feed and how often. (On any profile or Page, a user can select whether they want to see that person’s or business’ updates in their News Feed, and whether they want to see all, most or few of those updates.)
But Page owners are finding that any given item they post shows up in the feeds of only a fraction of the number of people who like their Page. (You can see the Organic Reach bar at the bottom of any post on a Page where you’re an admin. It’s often 10 percent of your fan base or less.)
When you boost a post, that’s considered Paid Reach. It’s a little different from an ad because a boosted post will show up in your audience’s News Feeds alongside regular content — it won’t be banished to the right rail of ads with tiny thumbnail images.
Right next to Organic Reach you’ll see the “Boost Post” button — and part of the way Facebook makes its money. The owner of a page can pay anything from $5 to thousands of dollars to force the item to show up in the News Feeds of people who like the page and their friends, or to people they specifically target (for example, people over the age of 30 who live in Kentucky and like AutoTrader.com — there are about 5,400 people who fit that description).
A new feature called Trending is being rolled out to some users right now on Facebook. Popular topics and hashtags show up on the right rail, and when a user clicks through, they’ll see related Facebook posts from Pages and friends.
Even without paying to boost a post, there’s one way to get your posts to show up in more feeds: make the content interesting. The more people who comment and share on a post, the more it will show up in users’ feeds, which then leads to more engagement, which then leads to even more visibility.
Facebook recently confirmed that text-only updates from Pages are less likely to show up in users’ News Feeds. (Text-only posts from people aren’t affected.) So if you want to get noticed, you’re probably better off sharing images, links, videos or photos.
The bottom line, as always, is that creating great content is the most guaranteed way to be seen. Do you have a plan to make your Page’s content more shareable and relevant? St. Gregory Group can help.