Cerebra

In an attempt to show solidarity to the nation’s youth currently toiling away with exams and studying sessions, I have decided to join them. The question I posed to myself is this:

Question
True or false: Facebook is limiting my brand page’s reach in order to force my client into spending on advertising (Discuss for 50 marks)

False. People are correct in saying they’ve seen a decrease in the number of unique views on (most) of their content, I too have experienced this first-hand. Not so long ago I was one of the people on the frontlines with my big “Zuck you, Facebook” sign and pitchfork, until I realised that they might not be the bad guys after all.

Recently, I struck gold with an update and reached well over 100% of my total audience without spending a cent. To prove it wasn’t a mistake or sheer luck, I did it again. I was (and still am) seeing record numbers for both reach and engagement, so how could I blame Facebook? Don’t believe me? I have the screenshots to prove it. No paid reach!

You see, even though I make a living writing content for brands online and have reason to feel disadvantaged by this new Facebook algorithm, I am still a general user in my personal capacity and in that sense I can get behind them putting up more hurdles for brand updates and spare me from the mundane “get this now” messages. Facebook are merely keeping your news feed as interesting as it could be by favouring engaging, popular content.

My advice would be this.

To clients: You must realise that this is not the space for your bottom line adverts. People come onto Facebook to get away from you shouting at them through the TV. People come here to chat with friends, stalk their exes and possibly have a laugh at how all the popular kids from school are getting fat. In order to find the winning formula, you need to understand the nature of the platform. Think laterally. Tailor content for the people, not at them.

To content & community managers: Stop being a baby. Facebook has challenged you to become more creative, so step up. The potential is there to reach more people than you ever have before, without spending a cent, so find out what your audience wants to talk about. Take the time. My tips would be to make it relevant to your brand, simple enough to answer or engage with, and relatively fun that people wouldn’t mind sharing. Even though there is no direct sales or promotional push for your brand, you are still doing them a favour by helping build a relationship between them and their customers. One day, your clients will find this is true so why not be the first to tell them?