Facebook Charging to Promote Your Posts to Your Fans???

[JennyJennJen]

VENTING...

I don't post everyday, but try to at least a couple times a week on my FB page. I have 97 Fans and usually get 20+ views (that's when I ask friends to Like it)

So anyhow I just checked, my last post only had 8 views and the past 3-4 only had 10. I then saw a spot to promote my post...so this means, unless I want to spend $5 on every post my fans won't see my post unless they have frequently liked or commented. This is crap.

I am going to test this and post everyday for a week or 2 and see if I get more likes, but I may very well stop having a FB page if no one sees it.

 

[Admin Greg]

ChefSuccess has almost 2500 fans, yet when I make a post, usually only 250-300 see it. Facebook is looking for that $$$

 

[ChefPeg]

Tell them to check the "pages feed" on the left of the screen. Also, on your page, those who "like" your page should also be sure to hover over "liked" for a drop down menu and check "Get Notifications" and "Show In News Feed." They should also click "add to interests lists..."

 

[BethCooks4U]

They (your fans) should see it anyway. The $5 is so that it becomes like an ad and others could then see it too. At least that's how I understand it.

 

[Admin Greg]

They (your fans) should see it anyway. The $5 is so that it becomes like an ad and others could then see it too. At least that's how I understand it.

Not all fans will see it, only those who Facebook "thinks" wants to see your post. They say it helps reduce clutter of walls. However it also could mean a big pay day for them.

 

[BethCooks4U]

Not all fans will see it, only those who Facebook "thinks" wants to see your post. They say it helps reduce clutter of walls. However it also could mean a big pay day for them.

Well then... not cool.

 

[byrd1956]

So I have 'taken' some of the information posted above and adapted it to be posted on my PCFB page. Anyone think it should be worded differently? or does anyone think I should not do this?If you are a fan of my Pampered Chef Face Book page it is my understanding that not all fans will see the daily posts I make to my page. Only those fans who Facebook "thinks" wants to see the post. Face Book says it helps reduce clutter of walls.
I am asking all my Face Book Pampered Chef fans to check the "pages feed" on the left of the screen. Also, those of you who "like" my page please hover over "liked" for a drop down menu then check "Get Notifications" and "Show In News Feed." Clicking "add to interests lists..." will also help you stay up to date.

 

[Oracle]

FB is a fickle beast and they are doing everything possible to increase their revenue stream by increasing ad revenue.

These days FB only shows any given one of our posts to approx 8-10% of the people who have liked our pages even if they're already selected "show in newsfeed"

Prior to promoted posts, the IPO, and the last 6 months of changes FB showed any given one of our posts to approx 15-18% of the people who had liked our pages (even if they're already selected "show in newsfeed")

Edgerank is the algorithm that FB uses to determine who to show our posts to. It's a complex, highly secret system that ranks the interactions between our fans and our pages and also gives ranking "weight" to certain types of posts.

Selecting show in news feed does NOT mean that the fan will see anymore of your posts. FB will still only show thee fans a % of your pages posts.

If you want more people to see your posts you need to make sure that you are posting things that are engaging such that people interact with e.g. like, comment on and/or share them.

When FB sees lots of interaction it decides that the post must be interesting and delivers it into more of your followers newsfeeds. And when a given follower interacts with your page FB also sees that an increases the frequency with which it delivers your posts to that follower.

Beyond the above, among other things FB has changed the Edgerank "weight" that it gives different types of posts. Pictures and sharing used to be king. Then they started penalizing posts with links in them (hence the reason why you may have noticed posts with "link in first comment below".

Now they've changed things again such that pictures not only have lower rank than just plain word posts, they've also increased the significance of negative feedback so when someone decides to hide a photo from your page in their newsfeed that hurts your reach as well.

So for now, posts that are just text are going to have more reach than anything else. So work them into the mix. Bear in mind that as more people like or comment on those posts that means that when you do post a recipe and photo the odds of FB showing it to them will be higher because they interacted with the words only status post.

Lastly, in terms of promoted posts, the targeting for promoted posts is not very good. So you can be paying to have more people see your posts but if those people are outside your market, including outside the US, you're wasting that portion of your spend.

The nature of my full time job is such that I deal with a lot of aspects of marketing, social media included. I've also done a bit of experimenting with promoted posts, ads, etc on my PC FB page.

Based on the past experience and how FB "works" I believe that promoted posts is a waste of money for us and that engaging posts, twice a day, mix it up, watch your post timing for your target market is the most effective.

YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary)

 

[Sheila]

Robyn, you might have better luck putting that in your newsletter too. If they aren't seeing the post in their feed, they don't know to do all that to start seeing your posts in their feed.

 

[babywings76]

Oracle, thanks for all the info! That's really interesting! Do you happen to know what days/times work best for our kind of posts? A week or so ago I saw an article that showed a chart of best days to post things based on the type of business you are, but I couldn't really figure out which to follow for us because we kind of fit several of the categories.

 

[Oracle]

Oracle, thanks for all the info! That's really interesting! Do you happen to know what days/times work best for our kind of posts? A week or so ago I saw an article that showed a chart of best days to post things based on the type of business you are, but I couldn't really figure out which to follow for us because we kind of fit several of the categories.

I did see that chart floating around and found it a bit useless for our businesses. Among other things the categories are fairly meaningless without the context of how they were concepted. They also fail to take into account the impact of time zones.

I'm in California and have fans all over the country as well as around the world. This is apt to be the case with most of us. Given that my market is US only that means that with time zones factored in I'm looking for a posting time "sweet spot" that is 3 hours different in the continental US plus Hawaii, which I've conciously given a much lower priority.

For me, based on my current followers, my optimal post times seem to be weekdays 5-7am PST and 4-7 pm PST as well as Sunday 4-7 pm PST.

Experiment for yourself, use what works best for your location and that of your followers and bear in mind that all of this info may become meaningless the next time FB makes changes.

 

[byrd1956]

we are definitely learning quite a bit with this thread

 

[JennyJennJen]

I definitely notice a lack of views when I post a pic or a link, I used to think that would get more views...thanks again for all that info!!!

 

[Oracle]

I definitely notice a lack of views when I post a pic or a link, I used to think that would get more views...thanks again for all that info!!!

It use to be that pics and links got more views. Not any more (at least until they change it again)