Slaying the Giant: How to Beat Facebook's Algorithm

Facebook has done it again. Two months ago they stated that they would cut off Organic Reach for business pages. Then last month they announced that Facebook would change on March 12, 2015 the way Likes, Comments and Shares were tracked and that there would be less of them. It is unclear how you can count a physical action and come up with two different answers, but apparently Facebook can and they decided the number is going to be less. But never fear there are always opportunities for smart people that are willing to do the work. Facebook wants us all to take the easy route, the paid advert route, but that is a slippery slope with no possible chance of return.

Defying gravity:

March 12 the big Doomsday for Likes, Comments and Shares which are the primary factor that influences Reach came and went with little fanfare or scary happenings. In fact a local client of PRDA showed significant gains before and after, actually defying what was assumed to be the inevitable

Post Reach

Total Reach

So how do you accomplish this?

Social media has become more science than social over the years and this has never been truer than now. To filter through the enormous amount of content the algorithms in social apps are becoming ever more complex to select what you might like to see best. There is also the issue of money and the increasing focus on paid advertising for revenue. Between these two forces it is almost impossible to achieve good views anymore.

But it can be done!!

SEO tricks of keyword optimisation, formatting and proper publishing at the right time of day can trigger the algorithms. PRDA works hard to determine what these triggers are and how to make them work for our clients. But if you are not an expert at SEO and social message optimisation then I recommend using advertising in a limited way. Putting small amounts of money behind a variety of your posts will help you achieve your reach goals and it will start to tell you what performs the best. Here is an example:

This client had a reach of 100 or less for each post. This was disappointing as it has 100,000 Fans. Something was not right. We started writing a range of different message and image combinations and put a small advertising budget behind them. Four different posts US$1.50 per day and this is what we achieved.

With an amount of about US$0.80 per day and optimised messages we increased the reach to 18,000 with the majority coming from Organic. The combination of good Organic methods and a small money boost made it shoot up. Facebook liked the fact we spend money, their algorithm like the content and between the two we got huge bonus value.

Summary:

Over dependence on any one strategy is not always good. Trying to beat the system by tricking algorithms is time consuming and risky if you are not experienced. Sticking to paid advertising is a one way path to endless payments. Try balancing strategies to see if the sum of the parts is greater than the whole.

Much success,

Doug

www.PRDA.Asia

Back in the Social Media Saddle

I have taken a hiatus that was much longer than ever expected from writing my blog. I noticed that my last "official" blog dates back to October of 2009. I am not sure how I lost my way, but I do know that the effect of not writing a regular blog makes me a bit grumpy and thick in the head. Or at least that is my excuse for the moment.

I find blogs to be, personally, difficult to write. Creating nice linear patterns of thought and sentence construction does not come easy to me. This is especially true with all the time I spend on Social Media with its fractured, fragmented and unrelenting content that to me often feels more like being in a blizzard than a soothing stream. Luckily my mind seems well suited to chaos and seems to adjust to filtering out these bytes of information and somehow making sense of it all.

The good thing about writing blogs is that it forces one to think through a thought from beginning to end. Check for its veracity and determine if in fact it has value. One of the benefits of social media is also it bane. The ease of sharing information seems to have removed some of the sense of responsibility in understanding before reporting it. I believe that too often content is shared based only on a clever title and maybe not much more. Whereas, I value the free exchange of information, I value more knowing that when I receive something from a source that I have confidence it is worth my time.

It is my opinion that everyone could benefit from writing a regular blog. Whether it is like me only for the critical analysis to see if I can prove, at least to myself, that I am being clever or whether I am, more often than not, full of sh**. Or if it is just to provide a good outlet to let your mind take some of the power out of the hurricane of thoughts that maybe going on inside. And then of course there is the possibility that what does make it to print is something others will be glad you took the time to do.

I am looking forward to writing on a range of subjects now that the fast has been broken.

• Broadcast vs. Engagement
• Use of multi-channels for effective marketing strategies
• Social graph and search
• If you have to buy your friends are they really your friends
• PR and Digital Agencies -- why all the fuss
• Social Quotient -- the Holy Grail of new marketing

Any many more. . .

Much success,

Doug

Spam Does Not Come In A Can

Today I had to bid farewell to an important part of my life. Some 10 years ago I first initiated myself into the internet world by purchasing a domain; Dougs-world.com. It was both fitting and exciting. For many years that "virtual address" was my only permanent address. As I travelled the world the only certain way for friends and family to stay in touch was through this address. Many times it served as back up for business as well, however, as time went by more unwanted spam started to appear. Yesterday the count was 2506 mails in slightly less than one day. This alone stuns me. But what was even more surprising was the number that was caught by the filter before it even reached my personal mail box.

After having a crash of our mail system I did some searching around and found that the catchall mail file had been tracking the overload for some time. More than 250,000 mails from spammers lay fallow in this box. Like a giant log jam on a river the flow of water had completely stopped.

Since there appear to be no apparent way to stop the onslaught I must reluctantly let go of this piece of my life. Dougs-world, or at least my mail address, will be laid to rest under an avalanche of spam. Not exactly a pleasant image, but the truth.

I usually do not go gently into the good night as the poem, and this time is no exception. However, sometimes you must realise that, whereas the war may still be won, the battle must be conceded.

With great sorrow, I concede.