Facebook business administrators, social media managers, content marketers, and other industry insiders are abuzz discussing the losses in organic reach they’ve been experiencing with their Facebook pages. Many companies rely on the reach of their social content to connect with customers –– the lifeblood of their small businesses.
In fact, the outcry from business owners hit critical mass whereby Facebook officially responded. The Facebook statement points to, “More and more content being created and shared every day.” Their suggestions on how to maintain reach are limited and center around spending more money to boost posts. With so many small businesses already maxing out their marketing budgets, this may not be an option. Even if a small business spends more, they’re competing with corporate behemoths that will continue to also spend more, further moving the bar of the new pay-to-play Facebook environment. The only winner of this spend war being waged is Facebook themselves.
At Brkthru, we dug deeper posing the question, “How much validity surrounds the decreased power of organic posts –– and what kind of losses are being seen?” We analyzed 140 different Facebook pages and over 24,000 unique posts to determine whether claims of decreased organic reach were a widespread macro trend or more limited in occurrence. These pages spanned a variety of industries and business sectors over the past 2 years.
The results painted a picture more sobering than we imagined. The chart below shows the relationship between Organic Reach, Total Posts, and Average Organic Reach Per Post. Since 2011, Average Organic Reach for posts has fallen by more than 50%.
What does this mean for businesses that have relied on organic Facebook management? It means they must work twice as hard for the same results. Meanwhile, Facebook engagement and active user base continues to fall, meaning there are less people to reach overall, further reducing the efficacy of the platform.
What should marketers and business owners do?
- Consider broadening your consumer strategies to be less reliant on Facebook for driving revenue.
- Explore other platforms growing in monthly active users and time spent, like TikTok.
- Be ready to invest in Facebook ads and boosted posts to extend your reach in-platform and grow your customer base.
If you have questions, challenges, or concerns about your organic reach –– or other aspects of your marketing efforts –– reach out to the experts at Brkthru. We’re all ears.
Sources:
https://www.facebook.com/business/news/Organic-Reach-on-Facebook
Visualizations created in Tableau