Posts Tagged ‘EdgeRank’

4 Things You Need to Know About Facebook’s EdgeRank

November 21st, 2012 :: Monika Jansen

If you’re new to using Facebook for your business, you have probably noticed that some of your posts generate zero interaction, while some generate lots. That’s due to EdgeRank. Here are 4 things you need to know about it:

1. What is EdgeRank?

It’s Facebook’s news feed algorithm, and it determines what updates are seen by your friends and fans (this is true for both personal and business pages).

2. How does EdgeRank determine what updates are seen?

No one really knows, because even when an update is generating interaction – likes, comments – it still might not be shown in the news feed. According to PageLever, you’ll only reach 7 percent of your fans on any given day.

3. How can I calculate my reach?

Go to Facebook Insights at the top of your page and look at your average reach for the last 30 days. Divide that by the number of fans you have, and that’s your reach. Typically, the more fans you have, the lower your reach.

4. How can I increase my visibility and thus improve my reach?

You need to increase engagement. Here 3 proven ways to do that:

Post photos: EdgeRank loves photos, because people love photos – they are engaged with the most and reach the most people. The more photos you post, the better, as they get from 5 to 20 times as much interaction as any other type of Facebook post.

Challenge your fans: This is one I see a lot, and it always generates a lot of interaction. Ask your fans to fill in a blank. It could be general (“This weekend, I wish I were traveling to ________”) or it could be specific to a holiday (“My favorite Thanksgiving dish is ________”) or it could be tied to your company (“If I could have one marketing superpower, it would be _________”).

Run a sweepstakes: A sweepstakes is not that hard to do, and actually the simpler it is, the better. Just make it a random fan giveaway and announce it in a status update, along with rules and any restrictions. Make sure the prize is related to your company so you attract the right kind of fan rather than random people who want an iPad, for example.

Try these tips and let me know if you see an improvement in your engagement levels – leave a comment below!

Image courtesy of v3im.com

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Tags: EdgeRank, Facebook, Marketing, social media
Posted in Marketing, Social Media | 2 Comments »

3 Ways to Increase Your Facebook Page’s Visibility

April 10th, 2012 :: Monika Jansen

EdgeRank, Facebook’s algorithm for deciding what content appears in users’s news feeds, is making it more challenging than ever to be sure your content is seen by fans. If you’ve noticed a decrease in Facebook page activity lately, EdgeRank may be the culprit. Here are some tips I found to keep EdgeRank from edging you out of news feeds.

1. Build super fans so your audience comes to you.

When you turn regular fans into super fans, your community will seek you out by visiting your page if they don’t see your content in their news feeds. To do this, you must consistently provide excellent content that your fans crave. Pay attention to the types of content getting the most traction. Which posts inspire likes and comments, and during what times of the day are you getting the best results?

Find the time of day with the most interaction, and stick to a consistent posting schedule so fans will know when to expect your daily content. The key is to make your content so great that fans will miss you if it’s gone.

2. Ask your audience to create a favorite pages list.

If you are providing useful content and building relationships, fans will want to stay in touch with you. Let them know about EdgeRank and that you want to remain on their news feed to provide them with the great information they’ve liked you for.

One way fans can be sure to stay in contact with you is by building a favorite pages list. This list is an easy way to check out all your favorite pages’ updates in one place.

To create a list, go to your Facebook Home page. On the left sidebar, click on More beside the Friends section. Click on Create List in the top right, and begin making your favorite pages list. Here is a step-by-step guide from Facebook for adding to and creating lists. Share this information with your fans, and ask them to create a list including your organization’s page.

3. Include your personal profile in your marketing strategy.

Personal status updates are winning out over business page updates, so leveraging your personal profile may be a tactic you’d like to try. To use this tip, you need to be very careful because Facebook terms state that you can’t use a personal profile for commercial gain (see here for more information). However, there is nothing stopping you from talking about your page posts on your personal profile. For example, if you’ve just posted a new blog post, you can share it with a link as a personal status update. Or, you can share information about an event where you will be presenting.

Facebook’s privacy controls have improved tremendously lately, so you can adjust yours according to your preferences. The key is to ask your page fans to subscribe to your personal updates so they can see them in their news feeds. When fans subscribe to your public posts, they can see these posts without becoming your friend. This feature is similar to following someone on Twitter. You can learn more about subscribing here. Subscribing to your personal posts will give fans that extra personalization they seek on social media.

Have you noticed a drop-off in Facebook page participation? Try these tips, and let us know how they worked for you.

Image courtesy of creative design agency Arrae

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Tags: EdgeRank, Facebook, Facebook fans, Facebook page, Marketing, social media
Posted in Marketing, Social Media | 2 Comments »