Facebook Pages Declining Reach - Should You Be Worried?

In 2004, many of the world's lives changed drastically to be about a more virtual world. Business Pages and Groups weren't really a thing yet, it was just a place to meet new people and see what your long-distance friends and family were up to. But times have changed a lot in the past 18 years.

The decrease.

Facebook has a unique algorithm vastly different from its competitors. Users will not see posts from companies unless they've opted to like or follow a page they're interested in. With the 213.65 million companies fighting for space on people's newsfeeds, it's no wonder the decline of Facebook business page reach. There's just not enough space on newsfeeds to accommodate each company. Companies that post continuous marketing messages or updates would clog the feeds of users' friends and family updates. This is the exact issue Twitter has been dealing with.

Facebook's Newsfeed Director announced that everyone has to earn their space on the newsfeed. Here's what's determined to win space:

• How popular (Liked, commented on, shared, clicked) are the company's past posts with everyone
• How popular is this post with everyone who has already seen it
• How popular have the company's past posts been with the viewer
• Does the type of post (status update, photo, video, link) match what types have been popular with the viewer in the past
• How recently was the post published

It's of course a little more complicated than the summarized version above, but you catch my drift. This basically means the more popular a company's posts are, the more space they're awarded.

If they publish posts that are interesting enough to get likes, comments, shares, and clicks, their reach increases. If their posts bore people and are ignored and scrolled past by anyone who sees them, their reach decreases. And since the natural trend is for reach to shrink as competition grows, Pages have to work harder and harder to stay visible.

The reach of brand Pages used to originally be around 16%, a year ago it was about 5%, but as of late it decreased as low at 2.5%. That means for 100 followers you have, only about 3 actually see your posts. When a few years ago you'd reach about 5 to 6 times more people. OUCH!

Now don't just go thinking Facebook is the bad guy here. Facebook is getting paid over $82 billion, yes that's "B", in advertising. And it's of course not just one brand, try over 10 MILLION brands.

Should you be worried?

I think brands should be worried. Facebook is no longer just a platform for liking adorable cat pictures or birthday wishes. It's now serious business, and it takes work to gain popularity on the newsfeeds of users who are flooded with content every day. As consumers become savvier about social media marketing, they're becoming less receptive to blatant advertisements. Facebook is now a business platform, and it's going to take some work on the part of companies for them to remain visible in their target audiences' newsfeeds. This is what's going to push out many of the small businesses unfortunately since they don't have the capital to compete with the Fortune 500s.

One thing that has me worried as a user myself: I rarely see posts from people anymore, even if I have chosen "see first" in their profile. My best friend from grade school was married for an entire week before I found out, and I didn't learn it from him or Facebook. This just shows that the algorithm doesn't just hurt brands, but its users as well.

So what can brands do?

Using Facebook Ads is a good way to increase reach, but it's also expensive. Investing in an ad campaign will not be cheap and won't bring results overnight, so you'll need a decent amount of money upfront. The best thing for businesses on social media is to take the time to engage with their customers by responding quickly or asking questions that generate conversation. People want to feel heard, so if you focus on your customers first instead of yourself, they'll be more likely to engage with you. Your content will seem fresh and fun because it's driven by users' needs.

Being creative is the key here- think outside the box! Think about what types of posts have gotten attention in the past and then do the opposite. For example, if you normally post educational videos about your industry and suddenly start posting cat pictures in addition to those, shock followers into paying attention to what you have to say again.

You might need some help with this- not everyone is great at marketing themselves or their business! Hiring a dedicated social media manager will help you keep up with what's trending and how to use social media to your advantage. It will help make sure that when you do post, the right people are seeing it!

Reach out for marketing assistance if necessary- but don't sit around not doing anything while Facebook slowly shrinks down your brand visibility. You'll need a plan of attack to keep your brand visible to new and existing customers. If you don't, then the only thing that will be reaching them is someone else's content!

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