Even if someone is following your business's Facebook page, they may not see what you have posted. In fact, if your post is too commercial in nature, it is very unlikely to be seen by your followers at all. Social networks have recently started changing their algorithms in order to reduce the “organic” posts that are seen by regular users in their news feeds.
How can you make sure potential customers see your messages on social networks? Pay for ads. In an average month, non-paid posts are seen by about 25% of your followers. As long as your followers show sufficient engagement with your messages (true followers, not paid), your messages should be more successfully seen on timelines. This is especially relevant on Twitter, as the average “organic” tweet is visible for such time.
A couple of compelling figures:
- In Oct 2013 12% of brand fans saw organic posts. This number fell to 6% by January 2014.
- 132% increase in ad spend in 2014 (from 2013) during Cyber Monday resulted in 286% ROI
Read the article “Why it’s never been harder to be seen on social networks (and what to do about it: Hint, buy ads)”. It does a great job of talking about the realities of using social media, and what it means to businesses and their marketing strategy. Gone are the days where sharing your marketing message was low cost or free. Social media marketing now needs a real place in the marketing budget.
Barbara Anderson
Marketing Coordinator