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Almost every small business owner knows the importance of being on Facebook. With over one-billion daily active users (VentureBeat.com), it makes sense to have a presence where the public is. Unfortunately, many business owners seem to struggle finding the optimal post frequency for their page.
Business pages either seem to post very little or way too much on Facebook, often failing to find the frequency that will net them the highest organic reach.
On Facebook, “reach” is the term the represents the amount of Facebook users that were exposed to your post. It includes both your page’s fans and non-fans, and usually varies from post to post.
Facebook’s current algorithm, “Edgerank,” and their push for marketers to use their advertising service has created a harsh environment for the average organic post from a business page, limiting the overall reach a little more every day.
When businesses see their low reach totals, they usually overreact and post much more frequently than they need to. The result of this action is further reduction in post effectiveness.
Not only will the reach likely see no improvement, but the clicks per-post will plummet, reducing the potential of each additional post.
Hubspot released some very interesting findings back in April from a study conducted with 13,500 of their customers.
Considering that most small businesses range from 100 to 300 Likes, we will focus on this graph’s orange and light-blue bars.
Notice how the indexed clicks per post continuously fall as the monthly Facebook posts increase. This represents the negative impact of over-posting on Facebook. Though, I will never recommend posting just once a month, I suggest adding content once or twice a week for the best reach total.
Also, there is one additional factor to consider that is extremely significant when discussing organic post reach: strength of content.
Strong content is far more likely to be “Liked,” commented on, or shared, allowing it to show up in the news-feeds of your audience’s friends, exposing it to their friends. This snowball effect allows reach to continuously pile up as users engage with your content, highlighting the value of quality over quantity on Facebook.
Facebook is indeed doing their best to slowly chip away at your organic post reach in an attempt to push everyone toward their advertising services, which have become one of the best in terms of getting the most bang-for-your-buck.
Facebook’s advertising revenue has increased each year since 2010, and ended in 2014 with $12.466 Billion (HubSpot.com). Clearly, marketers have taken notice of the importance of reaching their audience on Facebook, and so should small business owners.
Though it may feel like there is something new to consider with every new day on Facebook, business owners often turn to professional services, like NEXT! Ad Agency, to establish and maintain their Facebook presence.
Not only will NEXT! enhance and maintain a business’ page by regularly creating and sharing content, they even provide advertising as part of their services. Having a professional who knows the ins and outs of Facebook advertising can be a great asset for business owners who wish to get the most out of their Facebook presence.
As Facebook becomes more advertising-dependent, business owners need to continue to do their due diligence on how to maintain a solid reach. Owners should look to strike a strategic scheduling of organic content that allows them to maximize their reach. Never post too much, but avoid posting too little, and always consider Facebook Advertising.
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