Is Facebook a waste of time for businesses?
Aug 20, 2014
Facebook recently released a series of changes to its algorithm and as a result brands are suffering an average decline of 44 per cent in customer reach. As Facebook’s organic reach nose-dives, brands that have effectively built their social media marketing strategy on a Facebook strategy will suffer the most.
So how do businesses find a solution to this? Is there a solution at all? First, we must understand the Facebook algorithm.
In August Facebook acknowledged that each user has, on average, 1,500 potential stories to view each time they log in. Now, the latest algorithm changes will prioritise just 300 posts per user. This algorithm is determined by three factors: affinity, meaning how much a user interacts with a page; weight, how valuable a post type is; and decay, or how long a post has been online.
Facebook’s goal is to deliver content that users care to read and reduce what may be deemed as ‘spammy’ or unrelatable. As a result, brand pages now reach under three per cent of Facebook users. Since Facebook’s changes are making it much harder for brands to obtain a wide reach, it’s not only imperative for businesses to acquire the initial likes; it’s vital they find a way to retain them.
Get the full story at The Sydney Morning Herald
