Have you noticed the organic reach from your Facebook posts have been falling short? That's because Facebook is admitting the fact that marketers are going to have to pay for reach. As a marketer or an administrator of your business Facebook page, go take a look at your Facebook Insights yourself.
Where do you find this information?
-Look at the top of your actual profile page and click on See Insights.
-Click on the Reach tab.
-Change the start date of data back two months or so.
Most of you should see a decline trend in organic reach. If you are not seeing a trend right now, many marketers will soon see the organic reach of their posts on the social network drop off, and Facebook is acknowledging it. Facebook has stated plainly: "We expect organic distribution of an individual page's posts to gradually decline over time as we continually work to make sure people have a meaningful experience on the site."
The changes had been made to spur marketers to spend more on ads to make up for lost reach. Facebook is a growing business and they are going to make it difficult on businesses by having businesses start paying Facebook more money! Why can Facebook do this to us marketers? Well Facebook is here to stay for many many years and social media in general is very important for all businesses. It is a great way for potential customers to find your business and a great way for you to reach your potential customers via Facebook advertising.
But now Facebook is making the case for marketers to do just that--paid advertising. Marketers are told they should consider paid distribution "to maximize delivery of your message in news feed." Yes, it is going to cost you money but this is how you should think about fan/customer acquisition: a tool for making advertising more effective. In other words, the main reason to acquire fans isn't to build a free distribution channel for content; it's to make future Facebook ads work better.
A Facebook spokesman confirmed that the overall organic reach of Facebook posts from brands is in slow decline. "We're getting to a place where because more people are sharing more things, the best way to get your stuff seen if you're a business is to pay for it," he said.
So does Facebook Advertising work? YES! Well, if it is done correctly. Facebook does a great job on allowing you target the audience that you want. You can target people employed at a specific company, demographic, age, interests, etc. It's important to understand your buyer persona before you spend money on Facebook advertising otherwise you're throwing dollars away.
There are marketing companies out there that charge for this advertising service. Don't let them fool you because they don't understand your buyer persona and they're more interested in taking your advertising budget away from you! At Blue Frog Marketing in Des Moines, IA we are dedicated to growing our customer's social media presence. Our Facebook Advertising services are only to benefit the company and not Blue Frog.
