3 things you wish you'd know about the Facebook algorithm before starting your business page

Let me guess, you started a Facebook business page for your brand.

• You sped through the setup process and weren't paying particular attention to what you filled or chose.

• You selected your profile and banner image and started posting some stuff.

• Then, you were tempted to boost a post or set up your first page ad because notifications are popping up telling you to do so.

• You were very into the whole thing for the first few weeks but soon started questioning yourself why you're doing this in the first place.

• You're not seeing much followers, reach, nor engagement growth and wondering what has gone wrong.
  

There are heaps of articles out there that detail what a Facebook algorithm is and how it affects the content on your page - but let me boil it down in a much simpler manner:

• All social media platforms, including Facebook, are trying to keep people on their platform as long as they can.

• What keeps people on the platform longest is interesting and relevant content.

• Therefore, Facebook needed to figure out how they can filter all the content they have and deliver the right ones to the right people.

• Facebook has machine-learning algorithms to do that, and these algorithms are constantly updating themselves based on audience preference and behaviors.

• Therefore, content that drives a lot of engagement (may it be clicks, views, comments, or likes) become an indicator of high audience interest.

• As a result, pages that produce this content are preferred by Facebook's numerous machine-learning algorithms.
  

With that said, not all pages and content are equal. Without knowing the clockwork mentioned above, your content efforts can completely go to waste. The following facts may hence be the reasons why your content suffers from low reach and engagement:

1. Being your follower doesn't mean they'll see your posts

2. Your posting frequency matters

3. It can just take one post to succeed or fail

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1. Being your follower doesn't mean they'll see your posts according to the Facebook algorithm

The biggest misconception is that the more followers a page has, the more people see their posts. That is not true. Most of the reach any page is garnering is from non-followers.

For your followers to see your posts, they must have engaged with your posts before. That is what Facebook picks up as a show of interest. And that is why you find yourself receiving more and more cat videos after you've watched or commented on one. You don't even have to follow that specific cat page. Facebook will naturally include their posts on your feed because they think this content keeps you on their platform for a long time.

Therefore, unless your followers consistently engage with your posts, their follow only indicates to Facebook the industry they are interested in. In such a case, not only won't your future posts show up organically on their feed, but their follow becomes an advantage for your competitor's ad targeting instead. That is because Facebook deems them interested in the industry you're in, but not specifically to you.

Therefore, the total number of followers is just something nice to have. They don't promise a high engagement rate, and for sure not high conversion rates either. Relevant and quality content is the key ingredient for your page to earn organic reach and engagement.

2. Your posting frequency matters

Facebook can tell when you're mediocre. They can tell when you've slacked or when you're consistently active. Consistent and frequent posting does indicate to Facebook that you're a worthwhile partner to have. So, consistently and frequently updated pages are more likely to have their content on people's feeds. Not to mention, a consistent uploading schedule minimizes the effects of other variables on the performance of your content.

That means if you have been uploading once every other day, you start seeing patterns. It is easier to explain the data. Content-type that works and gravitates more to your audiences becomes obvious. On the other hand, if you have been uploading content at random intervals, your data will fluctuate a lot. You can't easily judge if it is the content making your performance go south, or is it other things in the algorithm that is causing it. Therefore, having a structured content strategy and a content calendar can make all the difference.

3. It can just take one post to succeed or fail

With all that said, if you create a post with very little engagement, you are reducing the "attractiveness" of your page to Facebook. Contrary, if you created one post that receives a lot of engagements, you could potentially resurrect all of your previous content and uplift the organic reach of your whole page again.

Since our newsfeed does not follow a chronological order, Facebook may show your dated posts as long as they believe the audience will be interested in them. And if that content does attract, the audience may click on the specific page to look for more.

Now, imagine if your page only has a handful of content, and not all of them are as good as the one shown to your new audience. Chances are you will have missed the opportunity to convert them into a follower. They may not even be organically reached by your content in the future. That is why I stand by the rule of never posting content for the sake of it. The damage that can do is greater than one usually imagines.

By having consistent, relevant, and value-adding content uploaded on your page, you not only take advantage of Facebook's algorithm and earn more organic reach, but it also affects the cost per action you achieve in your paid efforts. That is why it is important to understand how the game works before getting into it. There is no shortcut to building a successful business page nowadays. It will take combined efforts from having a content strategy and platform-appropriate executions, distributed in both organic and paid methods.

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