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Whether you’ve noticed or not, organic traffic on Facebook has dropped – and it’s likely impacting your company in a big way.
There are a few reasons that you need a Facebook advertising strategy and budget. Let’s start with the basics – because Facebook’s algorithm does not make it easy for business pages to succeed on Facebook.
What does the term “Facebook algorithm” actually mean? And how does it work?
Facebook’s algorithm controls who sees the content that you share. It’s not as simple as you posting a status update then Facebook pushing it out to all of your followers. That’s a thing of the past. Not everyone who follows your page will see your posts. Facebook is way more intelligent now. And, there’s a reason for that, but we’ll get into that later.
Adam Mosseri (VP, News Feed at Facebook) puts Facebook’s algorithm in layman’s terms for us. He says he thinks about it like he would when ordering his wife something to eat at a restaurant.
The Facebook algorithm process goes like this:
This process happens on millions of devices countless times each day. And, it’s also the reason why your Facebook business page’s posts aren’t getting as many views as it used to.
This makes a lot of sense when you think about it from a business perspective. The reality is that Facebook is a business. And how does a business like Facebook make money? You guessed it – paid advertising.
So why isn’t your Facebook business page making you money? Because the only way for company pages to succeed on Facebook is through Facebook paid advertising. Facebook’s only real concern is to find ways for more business pages to spend more money. You can’t blame them. Any CEO would do the same thing.
The truth is that social media doesn’t work the way it did in the past.
This is because posts were served in reverse chronological order. In 2009, Facebook changed the algorithm to be based on popularity.
As you might’ve guessed, the Facebook algorithm is changing more frequently than ever. Simply posting on your page every day without a Facebook advertising strategy or budget is a waste of time.
Here’s what you should be using Facebook for –
Facebook Paid Advertising
The new reality is that businesses on Facebook are unlikely to succeed without putting a budget toward Facebook paid advertising. In turn, this requires a Facebook advertising strategy similar to how you would strategize for billboard, radio or TV ads.
When creating a Facebook ad campaign, there are a few key things that you need to consider – like your goals, target audience and the content of your ad. Unfortunately, this isn’t as easy as it sounds. Facebook ad campaigns can get incredibly detailed and complicated, and the platform itself isn’t exactly user-friendly. We’d love to dive into the specific best practices for executing a Facebook advertising strategy, but that’s a whole other blog.
Its Database
What you’re really doing when you create a Facebook ad campaign, is using Facebook for its extremely extensive database. In other words, you’re using Facebook paid advertising to buy an audience.
Think about all of the millions of people that use Facebook. In fact, Facebook has more than 2 billion monthly active users according to the company’s website. That’s a lot of people – a lot of people that may be interested in your product or service.
Think about Facebook’s database as an untapped market. You may not have their email or mailing address but you have their Facebook profile.
When you use Facebook paid advertising, you are purchasing access to advertise to millions of people that you otherwise would have had no access to. Even better, you can segment your audience to the specifics of your ideal customer by choosing preferred age, gender, interests, etc. to give you an incredibly high customer value.
Organic Posting 2-5 Times a Week
Just because you realize that Facebook paid advertising is more lucrative than simple sharing updates on your company’s page (otherwise known as organic posting), doesn’t mean that you can give up organic posting altogether.
There’s a huge difference between social marketing and social selling. Social selling is where you can really see the return on your investment, and it includes your Facebook paid advertising strategy that we talked about in this blog post. However, social marketing is also essential.
Other than running Facebook ad campaigns, it’s still very critical to be active on your company page.
Think about this scenario – a highly qualified lead that saw your Facebook ad in their newsfeed now visits your company’s Facebook business page to learn more about you. But, you haven’t posted an update in months because you focused all of your efforts on your Facebook advertising strategy. That scenario isn’t exactly ideal because the customer doesn’t get any added value, in turn stopping their customer journey.
This is why it’s extremely important to pay attention to your Facebook advertising strategy as well as organic posting. It may seem like a lot to balance, which is why marketing companies like us (BIS Designs) are here to ease you into the process.
Fun Fact: Did you know that the average person will spend over five years of their life on social media. WOW! That’s a lot of time spent on Facebook!
Author: Stephanie May
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Phillip Long - CISSP, CEO of BIS Technology Group, along with his team of marketing and information technology experts, will walk you through an overview of what your business should be doing to protect your data and plan your digital marketing strategies.
About BIS Technology Group
BIS Technology Group is the technology leader on the Gulf Coast and is comprised of four divisions: Information Technology, Web Design & Digital Marketing, Office Equipment and Business Consulting. Together these divisions help local businesses exceed expectations and allow them to group to their full potential while minimizing risks. To learn more about BIS Technology Group, visit bistechnologygroup.com.
You may reach out to us at: Phone: 251-405-2527 Email: plong@askbis.com