In December of 2013, everything changed in Facebook land.
Social media marketers were shaken to the core with disappointment and frustration when Facebook unexpectedly changed its newsfeed ranking algorithm for organic reach. Facebook claimed the change was due to its audience’s increasing demand for high quality content on its blog, but many people believe the change was put in place to force marketers to pay to promote their content. Regardless, the game has changed since 2013. The average organic reach for a Facebook post nowadays is a measly four percent, and it is likely that it will eventually decrease to zero percent.
If you’re not familiar with reach or other social media jargon, you’re in luck because you’re about to become an expert. Okay maybe not an expert, but slightly more knowledgeable than you were before reading this blog.
There are five different types of reach: post, page, paid, organic and viral. Try to say that five times in a row without getting tongue tied! It’s important to know about each type of reach and how marketers can manipulate them. Knowledge is power, right?
Post reach is the number of people who see a specific post in their Facebook newsfeed, and page reach is the number of people who saw any of a brand’s content in a day, week or month. Organic reach is how many people see your brand’s content for free as allowed by Facebook, which is why this type of reach is so important to businesses who don’t have a hefty budget for paid reach.
Paid reach is when you have to pay to play, meaning you pay to promote a post to get a much larger reach than organic. Then there is viral reach, which is when a person sees content one of their friends has either liked, shared, or commented on. Reach affects everything on Facebook.
It affects the number of comments, clicks and likes a brand’s Facebook post receives to shares because obviously when more people see a brand’s content, they will be more likely to engage with it. However, a lot of smaller clients don’t have the budget to pay for lots of promoted content. Because of this, social media marketers spend a lot of time perfecting their craft to expand organic reach, and it is time well spent.
Over the last six months as the content and community manager at Krush, I’ve been one of those social media marketers. Here are a few truths I’ve discovered about increasing organic reach on Facebook:
According to a study by Socialbakers, a leading voice in the realm of social media, video content receives the highest average organic reach on Facebook compared to any other type of content. Have you noticed brands posting more videos and GIFs lately? That’s why – the organic reach is higher. Followed behind video content in reach performance comes statuses, links and then photos. Even though it may seem overwhelming, to really make a dent in organic reach, you need to be utilizing videos and animation. Lynda.com is a great resource for learning about video-making software so get to it! The spirit of learning is a lasting frontier, right?
Experimentation is vital for success in social media marketing. Compare the organic reach of your content after posting less often during the day and then more often. Just make sure you are posting the same type of content when you do the experiment or the results could be skewed. Once you figure out which frequency performs best, consistently stick to that routine.
Just like testing frequency, you should also test how posting at different times during the day affects reach. In a client meeting a couple days ago, the client informed us that since they switched their posting time to 8 p.m., they have expanded organic reach and received more engagement!
If you are wanting to take your brand’s social media performance to the next level, get in touch with us at Krush Digital. Call us at 405-603-5355 or schedule a free consultation with us at www.gokrush.com.
Krush Digital, an integrated agency founded in 2013, is the bridge between the past of marketing and its future. The agency specializes in digital marketing, public relations, media planning, social media, SEO, SEM, web design, IT technology, mobile apps, media placement, search, re-targeting, contextual targeting, viral campaigns, content marketing, branding, analytic reporting, creative services and research.