Facebook dials down Organic Reach of updates...
Discussion
I have read a lot recently of Facebook dialing down the organic reach of their business pages. That is to say your status updates are now (or will soon) only be seen by just 1% of your likers. If you want all your likers to see your latest update, you must pay.
So, I know a few of you use (or rely) on facebook, how are you coping with this "dial down", are you paying or are you now being extra selective, closed your business page or another option I havent yet thought of??!!
So, I know a few of you use (or rely) on facebook, how are you coping with this "dial down", are you paying or are you now being extra selective, closed your business page or another option I havent yet thought of??!!
I launched a website for a new online business a couple of weeks ago and am really struggling to put my finger on how to get in front of the target audience.
We kicked the FB and Twitter pages off a couple of months prior to launching the website, but are really struggling with getting people on-board.
At the weekend, I ran three promoted posts on FB; chose three very different styles: one was a competition we're running, one featured our products and one was one of our general 'fun' posts.
FB tells me that my money bought me 65,000 placements of the posts... and I got ten post Likes and one page Like out of it. Even though I limited it to UK and Germany, five of the ten were from non English or German speaking users, though their profiles had no location set at all.
One thing I learned (from the post-promotion results) was that in spite of offering me the opportunity to set the age span of my targets (I set 16-28), they actually deliver the promotion to their own age groups. So, I ended up with the vast majority being presented to the 13-18 age group.
I will try the FB promo again - promoting the business page as a whole seems a fair bit more expensive, so I'd be interested to know what results people have had - but need to really suss out how to make promoted posts pay. (or do they, quite simply, not work?)
Whilst we persist with Twitter, I've pretty much written it off as it just moves too fast. If the follower isn't online at the precise second you Tweet, your post simply won't be seen. And promoting via Twitter is prohibitively expensive; I set up a campaign with them at the weekend and they wanted £1.85 per secured Like. This is just a Like - no guarantee that they then even visit our website. Tried to wind the bid back a bit and they said that they simply wouldn't promote our business for such a low bid.
Anyway, we're on the tightest of marketing budgets so every penny spent needs to count. If anyone has any ideas of alternative ways of marketing to 16-28 year old males, I am (not quite literally) all ears!
We kicked the FB and Twitter pages off a couple of months prior to launching the website, but are really struggling with getting people on-board.
At the weekend, I ran three promoted posts on FB; chose three very different styles: one was a competition we're running, one featured our products and one was one of our general 'fun' posts.
FB tells me that my money bought me 65,000 placements of the posts... and I got ten post Likes and one page Like out of it. Even though I limited it to UK and Germany, five of the ten were from non English or German speaking users, though their profiles had no location set at all.
One thing I learned (from the post-promotion results) was that in spite of offering me the opportunity to set the age span of my targets (I set 16-28), they actually deliver the promotion to their own age groups. So, I ended up with the vast majority being presented to the 13-18 age group.
I will try the FB promo again - promoting the business page as a whole seems a fair bit more expensive, so I'd be interested to know what results people have had - but need to really suss out how to make promoted posts pay. (or do they, quite simply, not work?)
Whilst we persist with Twitter, I've pretty much written it off as it just moves too fast. If the follower isn't online at the precise second you Tweet, your post simply won't be seen. And promoting via Twitter is prohibitively expensive; I set up a campaign with them at the weekend and they wanted £1.85 per secured Like. This is just a Like - no guarantee that they then even visit our website. Tried to wind the bid back a bit and they said that they simply wouldn't promote our business for such a low bid.
Anyway, we're on the tightest of marketing budgets so every penny spent needs to count. If anyone has any ideas of alternative ways of marketing to 16-28 year old males, I am (not quite literally) all ears!
V8mate said:
Struggling with promotion
Wow, this is very scary. My Mrs and I are about to launch a website offering tailored gifts for all occassions (being vague on purpose, sorry).Essentially the model we wanted to use was along the lines of:
1- user sees our product
2- drops email with request
3- we send back photo with how it looks
4- deal agreed at price, transaction completed via BACs or PayPal.
In addition, there will be a number of products which are "off the shelf", but not many.
This model is actually very successful in our field on Facebook (arts and crafts), so I am wondering how those in the A&C field are affected. Although regardless of the field, all small business are affected.
Of course with this model, Facebook was to feature highly. But now that I have read your post and all the crap about them dialling down the organics, I am wondering how best to get infront of the target audience. I will have to rethink our sales funnel.
To coin an eloquent phrase, s
tbags.It is annoying from both sides of the fence. One FB business page I run has around 2500 fans, but the last post I did was seen by just 76 people. Another new page I've recently set up has around 230 fans, and on average around 15 of them see each post, but this will be a lot more if someone shares or likes the post.
I've tried various different posts - cute/funny photos, informational blog links and even offering free prizes, but none have had much response, and it is like talking to yourself at times.
I've tried promoting certain posts, but despite a lot more people viewing them, the number of people doing anything with it is still tiny, and results in hardly any increase in traffic to my website so isn't really cost-effective.
Then I see the number of likes/shares that these stupid "type x and see what happens!!" posts get, and I bash my head against a brick wall.
And it's frustrating if you like a page because you want to see updates - you end up missing a lot of what they post.
I've tried various different posts - cute/funny photos, informational blog links and even offering free prizes, but none have had much response, and it is like talking to yourself at times.
I've tried promoting certain posts, but despite a lot more people viewing them, the number of people doing anything with it is still tiny, and results in hardly any increase in traffic to my website so isn't really cost-effective.
Then I see the number of likes/shares that these stupid "type x and see what happens!!" posts get, and I bash my head against a brick wall.
And it's frustrating if you like a page because you want to see updates - you end up missing a lot of what they post.
jammy_basturd said:
Market them with sexy female models from a local uni. Best way to ensure your photos/products get shared online through social means.
What a top idea.I can see it now; totty in one of our t-shirts. Headline something along the lines of: Strictly for men/Strictly for the boys.
I'll go and hang about outside the girls loos at the local Uni
V8 mate, I am just this moment pondering how to overcome my own sales problem when I stumbled upon Shopify. I am going to look into it, but thought it would also be good for you to look at too 
Also (and I dont know your product, so this may not be relevant)but http://www.theladbible.com/ has a huge following and maybe what you are after. Not sure about their advertising options though?
Also (and I dont know your product, so this may not be relevant)but http://www.theladbible.com/ has a huge following and maybe what you are after. Not sure about their advertising options though?
extraT said:
V8 mate, I am just this moment pondering how to overcome my own sales problem when I stumbled upon Shopify. I am going to look into it, but thought it would also be good for you to look at too
Thanks, but I have an all singing website - built by PHer 'akiraprise'. My immediate concern is that I'm paying the bank each month for merchant services with no customers extraT said:
Also (and I dont know your product, so this may not be relevant)but http://www.theladbible.com/ has a huge following and maybe what you are after. Not sure about their advertising options though?
I think that might be a target if I can deliver jammy's idea!Hoofy said:
Shut it, you (In fairness, my country restrictions seem to have worked to avoid that)
It may have a lot of members, but I can't see Facebook as a good place to communicate with them at present. It's like observing that there are millions of people going through Kings Cross station and deciding that you can engage with them by standing outside with a 'Golf Sale' sign. Their attempts at 'monetizing' everything makes it a miserable experience that's only tolerated because all your friends and family happen to be in the same place.
The same goes for Twitter - the 'blink and you'll miss it' feed makes it pointless trying to talk to people unless they're your close friend.
In terms of impact, there's a lot to be said for YouTube - a good vlog is still hard to produce, so you've got leverage over the competition. For sales of premium or fashion items, Pinterest or Instagram may have some value if you can create or curate a good gallery.
The main message seems to me that you've got to find a medium where you can actually have a conversation, rather than chasing the high profile sites simply because they have high traffic. Users are immune to the background noise when they're dealing with a flood of status updates, so you need to find somewhere where they break out of the passive consumption mode.
The same goes for Twitter - the 'blink and you'll miss it' feed makes it pointless trying to talk to people unless they're your close friend.
In terms of impact, there's a lot to be said for YouTube - a good vlog is still hard to produce, so you've got leverage over the competition. For sales of premium or fashion items, Pinterest or Instagram may have some value if you can create or curate a good gallery.
The main message seems to me that you've got to find a medium where you can actually have a conversation, rather than chasing the high profile sites simply because they have high traffic. Users are immune to the background noise when they're dealing with a flood of status updates, so you need to find somewhere where they break out of the passive consumption mode.
Tuna said:
It may have a lot of members, but I can't see Facebook as a good place to communicate with them at present. It's like observing that there are millions of people going through Kings Cross station and deciding that you can engage with them by standing outside with a 'Golf Sale' sign. Their attempts at 'monetizing' everything makes it a miserable experience that's only tolerated because all your friends and family happen to be in the same place.
The same goes for Twitter - the 'blink and you'll miss it' feed makes it pointless trying to talk to people unless they're your close friend.
In terms of impact, there's a lot to be said for YouTube - a good vlog is still hard to produce, so you've got leverage over the competition. For sales of premium or fashion items, Pinterest or Instagram may have some value if you can create or curate a good gallery.
The main message seems to me that you've got to find a medium where you can actually have a conversation, rather than chasing the high profile sites simply because they have high traffic. Users are immune to the background noise when they're dealing with a flood of status updates, so you need to find somewhere where they break out of the passive consumption mode.
Wise words.The same goes for Twitter - the 'blink and you'll miss it' feed makes it pointless trying to talk to people unless they're your close friend.
In terms of impact, there's a lot to be said for YouTube - a good vlog is still hard to produce, so you've got leverage over the competition. For sales of premium or fashion items, Pinterest or Instagram may have some value if you can create or curate a good gallery.
The main message seems to me that you've got to find a medium where you can actually have a conversation, rather than chasing the high profile sites simply because they have high traffic. Users are immune to the background noise when they're dealing with a flood of status updates, so you need to find somewhere where they break out of the passive consumption mode.
Do you charge extra for the answer?
V8mate
I don't know/can't remember what part of the world you're from, but I have access to a photography studio and scores of models (of varying levels of attractiveness) for not vast sums of money.
I'm an amateur photographer and have experimented in the studio a fair bit, however my mate who owns the studio I shoot at is very good.
If this is something you're seriously considering (and I think it's not a bad angle to market through), drop me a PM.
The only thing I will say is that once they get to a certain age, you'll find they get long term girlfriends who don't approve. However, it appears ok to have half naked men advertising to that age bracket, so an area you can expand into!
I don't know/can't remember what part of the world you're from, but I have access to a photography studio and scores of models (of varying levels of attractiveness) for not vast sums of money.
I'm an amateur photographer and have experimented in the studio a fair bit, however my mate who owns the studio I shoot at is very good.
If this is something you're seriously considering (and I think it's not a bad angle to market through), drop me a PM.
The only thing I will say is that once they get to a certain age, you'll find they get long term girlfriends who don't approve. However, it appears ok to have half naked men advertising to that age bracket, so an area you can expand into!
Hoofy said:
The Moose said:
However, it appears ok to have half naked men advertising to that age bracket, so an area you can expand into!
He might not be that way inclined. Fnar.
Thanks for the offer Mooseman, but I already have a PH cameraman on board - Chris Mapey - and he is delivering some excellent work.
It's an entirely PH-resourced project!
V8mate said:
Hoofy said:
The Moose said:
However, it appears ok to have half naked men advertising to that age bracket, so an area you can expand into!
He might not be that way inclined. Fnar.Gassing Station | Business | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff