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Do Fans Still Matter On Facebook? | DrivingSales News

Do Fans Still Matter On Facebook?

January 10, 2014 0 Comments

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The difficulty of reaching fans on Facebook without using paid ads is increasing based on recent information from the company.  Many marketers have seen a decrease in the reach of their organic (non-paid) posts, and this concern was met with objection from Facebook one year ago.  At that time, Facebook stated that they made algorithmic changes to reduce spam and non-engaging content on their platform, but that the median reach of pages had not been changed.  Facebook clearly objected to the inference that these changes had been made to increase the likelihood that companies would spend money on ads to catch up on the reach that had been lost.

However, it’s one year later and Facebook is now acknowledging a decrease in the reach of organic content.  The company clearly states, “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.”  Facebook continues this thought by suggesting that “to maximize delivery of your message in News Feed, your brand should consider paid distribution.”

The suggestion that a decrease in the effectiveness of organic content is due to the increase of overall sharing on the site doesn’t help those businesses who have worked diligently to build a Facebook fan base.  The question arises about whether or not this type of work continues to be a good use of resources if the reach to these fans is decreasing over time.  Facebook is responding to these concerns by suggesting that acquiring fans still ensures a multitude of rewards for a business, such as free distribution of content.  However, the ability to have free content distribution is now written as the third reason for increasing your fan base, after “improving advertising effectiveness” and “lowering the cost for paid distribution”.  Clearly, Facebook is telling us that paying for ads is the most effective way for a business to continue the expansion of their reach on the social media website.  The company isn’t saying that building fans isn’t an important task, but they are making it clear that the primary purpose of this fan base is to make future Facebook ads more effective.

A Facebook spokesperson confirmed that the organic reach of posts from brands is slowly declining based on the increased usage of the social media site.  “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.  This statement is of great concern to brands who have invested in expanding their Facebook fan bases.  However, the social media site is obviously growing at an exponential rate, so the inundation of content is impossible to avoid.  It is therefore imperative that businesses invest in some paid advertisements to guarantee that they reach the widest audience possible with their brand.

About the Author:

The DrivingSales News team is dedicated to breaking the relevant and the tough stories affecting car dealers. Have questions for DrivingSales News? Reach the team at news@drivingsales.com.

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