The Facebook Algorithm and Your Friends
Do you ever post on Facebook some days and wonder if you really have any true friends? Do you think it’s you and something you may have said or do you realize it may be that Facebook is not showing your post to all your friends like you may think? I did the other day and then I read Jens post on the Facebook about the filters. What does this mean for your brand pages? It gets even harder to be seen as a page with the Facebook Algorithm changes.
EdgeRank was an algorithm developed by Facebook to govern what is displayed and how high on the Facebook News Feed it would be. It consisted of 3 things: Affinity, Weight and Time Decay. Sounds complicated right? Let’s break it down more simple for us:
Affinity – Repeat interactions – comments, likes and shares that are repeated.
Weight – Comments weigh more than likes.
Time Decay – How long a post remains alive or dies. The older a post gets the less value it holds.
Facebook gives us 6 tips how to increase our EdgeRank for Our Brand Pages:
- Shorter Posts – Between 100-250 characters get 60% more likes, comments and shares.
- Be visual and load photos right from Facebook.
- Ask for what you want. Don’t let your friends guess.
- Post daily so fans will come back to your page.
- Be relevant but not pushy. No one likes a pushy salesperson.
- Be timely- learn what time of day is best for your audience. Different niches and countries have different times that work best. Learn which work best for you and or your page.
According to Search Engine Watch Edgerank is no longer being used on Facebook and there are now 100,000 factors that go into what a user sees on their Facebook feed. The Facebook algorithm has really changed. Tweet that stat out!
There are 100,000 factors that go into what a user sees on a Facebook page.
So instead of 6 factors there are 100,000. Wouldn’t you love to see all 100,000? I could not Google or Bing enough to find them.
How Can You Help Your Facebook Posts to Show in the Facebook Algorithm Today and Be Seen By Your Friends?
- Act like it’s a blog post. Focus on quality content! Just like Google’s algorithm now the Facebook algorithm is following suit.
- Don’t ask! It is no longer about asking for likes. That is like begging and it’s not pretty. (Notice this one changed?)
- It should be useful and/or fun for users. There is no substitution for comments and shares.
- Encourage Discussions – You should try to strike up a discussion based on your posts.
- Introductions Count! The way you introduce it needs to be just as good as the content. Be sure to introduce your posts well.
- Mix it up. They also like you to mix up your posts, no surprise to some of who have been doing that to see what works best.
- Facebook also bases it on who comments and shares your posts – your next post will more likely be seen by them. Facebook calls this “story bumping and last actor”. With this Facebook is trying to post things in your news feed that they believe you genuinely care about. You can read more right on Facebook about their changes.
Do Your Friends Filter You Out With the Facebook Algorithm?
Jens brought up a good point about friends filtering posts out on Facebook. They may do it for various reasons.
- Did you post so often they did not really see each one? And it is always about the same topic? You could being boring to them.
- Did they see so many comments on a post that they didn’t feel a need to comment too?
- Your topic has no interest to them. If you are not interested in a topic you will not likely comment or like it.
- They found something you posted offensive or against their own beliefs.
- They may have been tired when looking at your post and just glazed over their Facebook feed.
Page Insights for Facebook Pages
If you use pages for your brands be sure to check out the insights for helpful information. They are like using Google or Bing analytics. You will find lots of data and info to track what is working and what’s not via the Facebook algorithm. You can then make adjustments.
You can track likes, reach and engagement (organic vs paid). Looking at mine again today the Facebook text only posts got more reach and engagement. You can also download these stats to keep track over time. New - You can track 5 other pages (competitors) and see how many likes or unlikes they are receiving. You will find it quite interesting information watching 5 other pages. I love checking them out when there is a lot of fluctuations. Be sure to add 5 pages to your watchlist and see what is working or not with their Facebook algorithm. You can learn a lot from them.
Have you noticed something working better or worse for you with the Facebook algorithm changes?
Just for fun: Do you like the new Bistrips comic app that allows you to make cartoon strips of yourself or your friends on Facebook?
Post by Lisa Buben.Both images courtesy of stockimages at FreeDigitalPhotos.net