Every business is rightly being urged by gurus and social media marketing advisers to use social media like Facebook to reach out to their customers. In a desperate effort to stay updated and tap into the vast marketing potential that Facebook marketing offers, you may create a company account and immediately begin posting announcements. But why is it that only a fraction of people actually see them?
Of course, people are busy, and they may not have the time to go through every post in their News Feeds. But first, your posts have to make it to the News Feed, which is where the algorithm that Facebook uses in the News Feed comes in.
According to a recent statement by a Facebook representative, the News Feed takes into account a number of social factors to decide what your users see. The Algorithm used is not EdgeRank – that is a media construct, a term for an early algorithm that has stayed on in the media memory for lack of further information. But based on Facebook’s new transparency on the subject to aid businesses, here is our take on what you need to do to give your status updates greater visibility.
1. Aim For More ‘Likes’
If a user ‘likes’ a post, Facebook knows to show them more such posts. On the contrary, if they ‘hide’ a post, there are fewer chances of such posts coming up on their News Feed. Whether a user likes your post or not may seem out of your control, but this is where your target market research will pay off. Step into the minds of your audience and find out what they like. Interesting and relevant images, for instance, are more likely to appeal to user emotions and increase your visibility.
2. Interact More With ‘Friends’
Facebook has also revealed that the more you interact with users or pages, the more your posts show up on their News Feeds. This is a clear signal that you cannot be passive on Facebook.
3. Make Your Posts Shareable
It’s not easy to create viral posts too often, but a few out-of-the-box ones will get you on the radar of your target audience. The more likes, shares and comments the posts receive, the more likely are your future posts to appear on News Feeds.
4. Videos Receive Special Attention
It’s not news that video posts are more attention grabbing than text. But Facebook’s new tests on making a video playable on the News Feed are underway. This means that soon, your video posts can get you 10% more views, likes and shares (according to Facebook) directly from the News Feed as they will automatically begin running without sound.
Another common concern for businesses used to be that people don’t scroll down to the bottom of their News Feeds. Facebook confirmed in mid-2013 that people generally used to read about 57% of their posts on their feed. That was until a new feature was tested to bring up older content to the top of the feed. This feature has brought the figure up to 70%, which is good news for Facebook advertising for Singapore businesses.
5 / 5 stars
