The Facebook algorithm change March 2015 is here!
Facebook changes their algorithms almost as often as a Centrelink recipient with a rat’s tail jumps the gates at Penrith station…and it’s getting pretty hard to keep up.
While the latest algorithm update mainly affects personal users, there is one change in particular that has business page owners exhaling in frustration.
Personal users will now be less likely to see posts in their newsfeed from pages that their friends have commented on or liked, unless they already like that page too. For example:
Joe Macawesome likes a post from ANZ stadium about their new food offerings during football games. Now usually Joe Macaesome’s friends are likely to see that same post on their newsfeed, simply because Joe liked it. The new algorithm change means this won’t happen unless said friends already like ANZ stadium’s page. So ANZ Stadium’s food promotion post is going to reach a significantly less number of people than it would have in the past, limiting message saturation.
To further put it into context, an organic way to grow your like base on Facebook has been largely through friends of your page likers discovering you through the content your likers interact with. This algorithm change stunts a pages potential growth by limiting the organic flow of traffic produced through these interactions.
So as a business, when you review your page insights you are going to be less likely to see higher numbers than your page likes on your reach statistics.
It’s almost like Facebook has put tape over your likers’ lips so they can’t spread your business message through word of mouth.
Why would they do this?
Simply, they want you to pay.
When you instigate a Facebook ad campaign you have options to reach friends of friends specifically. Changing the algorithm means that if you identify your target audience as been the one a step away from your current audience, you’re going to have to pay to reach them, and not balance out your marketing efforts with the expectation that they will organically be reached through your current likers interactions.
Understandably this has caused another long eye roll and sigh from business page owners, every algorithm change seems to bring another blow to the already tedious nature of post reach on Facebook.
Page managers are going to have to be savvier than ever if they want to spread their brand message on the platform. Comprehensive social media strategies will become the norm for any business that wants to Facebook and other social media platform effectively.