It is another sad day for Facebook marketers. Facebook has made it harder for businesses to use their platform to advertise their business to their audience. Once again, they have changed their algorithms for what type of posts actually shows up on your fans’ news feed when you post. In simpler terms, this means that whether your fans “like” you on Facebook or not, you still will not reach the majority of them when you post.
In a recent article from BusinessInsider, I read about how Ignite, a social media marketing agency, analyzed 689 posts from 21 brands that they manage on Facebook. Since Facebook’s algorithm change earlier this month, the amount of people their content normally reaches had declined by more than 44.4%, with some brands seeing more than an 88.8% decline in their total reach.
Keep in mind that the only people you are reaching are the people who have liked your page anyway, unless they share your content. So, all of the efforts that you have put into getting your numbers up on Facebook will not make much of a difference. Why? Because Facebook is making it impossible to reach them without going completely bankrupt from their advertisement system. They are making you pay to reach the people who truly care about your product and updates from your network.
However, this is not the first time we have seen a move like this from Facebook. Earliest this year, they changed their algorithms so that only graphical content with images and photos would reach your fans. Sucks but not such a big deal right? Marketers had just started filling their timelines with pictures of their product and services. But now, this is no longer the case.
Facebook is attempting to stretch their profit margins in the same way that Google has in the past. Google changed their algorithms and literally killed the SEO industry by introducing Google Ads to dominate the market. So now if you want better SEO rankings, you have to go through Google. Facebook has set up their system to the point where now, you have to go through their system for your advertising.
This becomes extremely costly for small businesses and corporations. Let’s examine your current costs.
• Design of Fan Page
• Content Creation
• Website Integration
• Daily Maintenance of Fan Page
• Analytic Tools & Applications
• Budget for Contests/Strategic Campaigns
• Facebook Tabs & Development (Such as Like Gate)
And even with all of this, Facebook is now taxing businesses to buy into its Ad system to even reach your own fans. There is nothing free about Facebook marketing. Take a close look at the number of fans you have and the number of people your content is actually reaching. See for yourself. My best recommendation for all Facebook marketers is to get out while you still can. There are other platforms that are proven to generate more results with less cost associated, such as Pinterest, Twitter, and Instagram.
In the mean time. Businesses are pissed! Check out the outrage from businesses below ]on a Facebook post where it promotes its Ads.
