Facebook Marketing: Your Business Should Prepare for Reduced Organic Reach

Facebook Marketing: Your Business Should Prepare for Reduced Organic Reach

In other words, users who have “liked” your company are unlikely to naturally see the posts in your news feed as they have been in the past. That is, unless you pay for it.

Ogilvy & Mather conducted a recent study of more than 100 brand pages and found that companies’ posts dropped from reaching 12% of their followers in October to just 6% by February. There are other reports that Facebook will further reduce the reach to 1% to 2% of followers. The change is intended to focus on what Facebook deems “high quality” content.

Big brands and retail giants that have accumulated millions of “likes” will only be able to reach a fraction of them. For local businesses and individuals who have established a small following, their reach will be even smaller and there is no guarantee that the followers reached will even see the post. Facebook claims its changes to News Feeds will improve the overall user experience.

The answer for businesses, according to Facebook, is to buy the ability to advertise. This will likely be a tough sell since businesses are essentially paying for the same service that has been free for a long time. However, it has been repeatedly acknowledged that Facebook is a business, not a charity. But, it has also been pointed out that Facebook was formed on the premise of “earned media.” Thus, when companies or brands diligently work to correspond with consumers on social media, they get the benefit of greater reach, free of charge.

Only time will tell how Facebook’s changes will impact business marketing. In sum, if you have amassed a substantial following on the social networking site and you are seeing positive results, it may be worth the investment.