Facebook: Not All Paid Advertising Should be Ads
DIY Sprocket Solutions
RIP to organic reach for businesses on Facebook. It is true that, if you want your content to be seen by customers, you’re going to have to pay to play. Even though social media marketing hasn’t been around all that long (if you consider roughly a decade a short amount of time), this is still a very hard pill to swallow for most marketers and businesses alike. Change is hard. The algorithm has changed already though. Now it’s time for the rest of us to catch up.
We had already seen a significant and steady decline in the last few years. At the beginning of 2018 however, the Facebook algorithm change that took effect was the last straw. This change was intended to show users more of what they wanted to see and less of what they didn’t want to see (ie: ads). To keep users “using” your product or service, you need to keep them happy.
In a private webinar Facebook hosted earlier this year, the platform shared that it prioritizes four things when determining what to show in a user’s newsfeed. These four things are: links shared through messenger, comments or likes, multiple replies and meaningful interactions (posts that spark conversation between users).
An average organic reach now? 2-6%. Tops.
People then rightly jumped on the “we must start paying for advertising” train. They weren’t wrong… but they weren’t exactly right either. The answer to Facebook not organically sharing your brand posts is not to switch to a pure advertising approach. The answer is to find a way to incorporate Facebook’s shift to featuring engaging and meaningful content with the addition of paid advertising.
The previous approach that brands had of presenting their businesses as human, approachable and relatable still needs to happen. People adapt to ignore ads in all capacities. Why not spend some money featuring the posts that you would have normally tried to share organically? I’m not saying to boost funny pictures of kittens that have no relevance to your brand. I’m saying that when you share valuable content, you may want to pay a small amount to have that content seen. Increase trust in your brand. Increase brand awareness. Don’t solely choose cut and dry ads to spend money on.
In the similar way that you were creating organic content -create paid content. Work to create posts that you would want to share yourself. When you’ve created a post like that, that gets some sort of organic interaction, then pay to boost that post.
Paid advertising is where we’re at with Facebook right now. Businesses can create a strategy to maximize their efforts on this platform or they can continue to post to an almost empty room of 2% of their followers.
What are your thoughts on the type of content you should be paying to promote? If you’re spending money on a platform, should it be for ads and ads only? Should you be paying to promote regular brand content? Comment below!
Breanne Bannon
Breanne is a Content Writer, Social Media Marketeer, and Sales Associate for Sprocket Websites.
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