1500 Words | 5-10 Minutes

*I’m going to share my Facebook journey. If you’re not interested in what will inevitably be a “short story long” kind of anecdote, I encourage you to scroll down to Why Facebook is the Worst.*

Facebook was invented the year I graduated high school. We were all arranging our Top 8 friend lists on Myspace and carefully crafting our away messages on AIM when, out of nowhere, Facebook changed the whole paradigm. I don’t actually remember why early Facebook’s platform seemed so much better than Myspace, AIM, Xanga, etc.; I just remember nearly buying someone’s NCSU email address because my school was not yet on the platform. 

Fortunately (or unfortunately), someone heroically advocated for Southeastern College at Wake Forest (later named the College at Southeaster), and I joined the book of faces. In those earliest days, it was a way for people like us to stay connected and in community with each other through college and into adulthood. 

Again, I don’t remember what was better about Facebook than the other platforms that already existed. I remember when Facebook messenger rendered AIM useless and ultimately killed it. RIP. I don’t blame Facebook for admitting more people and expanding its reach, but there’s no doubt the beginning of the end of its golden age was when you no longer needed a college or university email address to sign up.

Still, for those who graduated high school between 2002ish to 2009ish, Facebook had become ubiquitous. “Add me on Facebook,” had replaced, “Give me your email address,” which had replaced, “What’s your AOL screen name?” If we wanted to keep up with old friends and make new ones, we were going to be on Facebook. 

If I had graduated college on time, I would have joined my classmates in walking across the stage and into one of the worst job markets in modern American history. I think that’s part of what led so many in my graduating class to start their own businesses around the same time Facebook unveiled fan pages, providing us with a way to reward honest and earnest marketing efforts with much higher ROI than traditional advertising. 

The platform had already become cluttered before the 2016 election season. The tone had shifted from a place to connect to a forum in which to argue with people you might sort of know. Younger millennials and Gen Z’ers don’t remember the olden days. They had no problem abandoning the platform or avoiding it altogether. Those of us who continued to hang around maintained the sense of community that they had in the beginning through Facebook groups. 

Little did we know, 2016 was just a preview of what the platform would become. 

Today, Facebook is the worst. 

Unfortunately, if you’re a business owner, you still need Facebook.

Why Facebook is the Worst 

I don’t feel like I need to justify that statement. While my evidence is mostly anecdotal, I can’t think of anyone I know who loves Facebook. I’m proud of the brave souls that have said goodbye to the world’s most used social media platform, but my guess is most of my network is still using it. 

Like me, they’ll say, “I would quit, but…”

• I want to keep up with my relatives, friends, grandchildren, etc.

• I still interact with a niche group or brand

• I follow so-and-so who is really funny

• I need it for my business

So many of us are trapped on the platform because we need it for our business. There was a golden age where Fortune 500 brands and small businesses had equal(ish) footing to reach their audiences and tell their stories. For pennies compared to traditional advertising, if you created engaging content, your business would be rewarded. 

But then it all changed. Facebook made some updates to their algorithm that devastated the reach for our business pages. So, you really may be wondering if you can just leave it all behind. We’re going to take a look at what changed, what’s trending, what can be done, and why (unfortunately) you still have to use it. 

What Facebook Changed That Broke Its Effectiveness for Businesses

Reach refers to the number of Facebook users who see your posts. There are three types of reach:

• Organic Reach: The number of people following your page who see your post.

• Paid Reach: The number of people who see a boosted post. 

• Vital Reach: The number of people who are are friends of your followers who see your posts.

If you feel like your page’s post-reach has tanked, you're not wrong. Facebook admits as much, supplying us with two primary reasons:

1. More Content: Content creators are supplying Facebook’s 1.5 billion daily users with more content. There are more pages competing for views, so there’s less room on their newsfeeds.

2. Algorithm Changes: Facebook made significant changes to the algorithm that determines what people see on their feeds. Per Facebook’s Brian Boland, “Rather than showing people all possible content, News Feed is designed to show each person on Facebook the content that’s most relevant to them.”

Those algorithm changes were specifically meant to favor friends and family posts over business and fan page posts. This rendered business pages less effective. 

How Facebook Became Less Effective for Businesses

Fan pages launched in 2007, providing a platform for anyone to develop an audience for their products and services. There was beauty in the simplicity of the idea that large corporations and mom-and-pop shops had the same opportunity to develop a following based on the quality of their posts. 

Of course, there was the option to create ads to attract followers and financially boost posts, but paying to play worked best when we created engaging content. In those days, the potential reach and audience engagement were far greater than traditional advertising outlets. 

Even back in 2014, posts to Facebook pages were only reaching 16% of their audiences. In the wake of scrutiny the platform received during the 2016 election, Facebook announced additional changes that would further impact reach, predicting page reach to plummet to as low as 2% of their audiences. 

The social media giant has continued tweaking the algorithm and newsfeed to favor posts from friends and family. For all businesses, page reach is terrible. For small businesses, it may feel like no one sees anything you post. What’s the point of maintaining a presence on the platform?

Why You Still Need Facebook for Your Business 

Having a presence on Facebook is still vital for your business. If you’re going to be on it, you might as well use it as effectively as possible. 

What Can Be Done to Mitigate the Negative Effects

There are some steps you can take within the social media platform and other digital marketing outlets to mitigate the negative impacts of Facebook’s ineffectiveness:

1) Ask for Reviews: Facebook and Google reviews are important. As many as 85% of people are influenced by reviews almost as much as recommendations from family and friends. Ask fans of your page, customers, and clients to give you a five-star review.

2) Remember Facebook is a Search Engine: Over a billion people use Facebook daily. Many use it as a search engine to find a business like yours. For the best results

• Make sure the information on your business page is accurate. 

• Make sure there is an active phone number. 

• Respond quickly to customer inquiries. 

• Post often enough to show the page is accurate. 

• If you have a menu or price list, make it available on your business page. 

3) Encourage Followers to Make You Their Favorite: Facebook introduced an extra step for fans to opt-in to seeing your content regularly on their newsfeeds. Here’s what it looks like:

*Feel free to share these screenshots with your followers. 

4) Create Engaging Posts: The more comments and shares your posts receive, the more likely it is for them to be seen. The more entertaining, informative, and engaging your posts are, the more likely it is for them to receive likes and comments. 

5) Go Live: Facebook live reaches three times as many people as other types of posts. 

6) Use HIgh-Quality Video: According to filmmaker and marketer Jared C Shumate, it’s not just about having video. Plenty of companies use video, so you are still competing for views. Your company needs video content that arrests their attention for long enough to communicate your message:

“With the advent of mobile devices becoming increasingly integrated into our world, and fresh new media available every second of every day at the swipe of a finger, videos are key in catching someone’s attention. But once you’ve caught the attention, the trick is holding it, right? That’s where compelling stories and visuals come into play.”

For great video content, check out JCS Media and Marketing. 

How to Reach Your Audience Without Facebook

Your customers and clients are still searching for solutions to the problems that your company solves. Whether they need good coffee, plumbing repair, or to know where to send their kids to camp, your website holds the answer to the questions they are asking. Therefore, you need a quality website with great content and an ongoing SEO strategy. 

Maintaining an active blog will go a long way toward helping your business’ website show up in organic search engine results. If you need help with your website, search engine optimization strategy, ghostwriting for your blog, or social media, fill out this short form for a free consultation. We will be happy to give you tips you can implement on your own or help determine if we can partner with you to help grow your business through digital marketing.