The last few weeks have been filled with blogger-rage as facebook admitted that the organic reach of pages is really not cutting it anymore. They are encouraging page owners to purchase promotion packages just to reach more of the fans that already like their page. Most of us cannot afford to pay for our reach, and it’s rather confusing why we would need to pay to reach people who have already asked to see our posts (by liking our page)…but I digress.
It’s annoying, it’s a complex issue, and although a lot of bloggers are talking about jumping off the Facebook bandwagon, I’ve decided to stick it out.
Here’s why:
Yes, reach has gone down considerably in the last few months, but really, it was never that great to begin with. Reach has been an issue for Facebook page owners for awhile now. For me personally, Facebook has never been a huge source of traffic. Yes, I’ve gotten some good numbers on occasion from a post that got shared a lot, and received a handful a views each day from Facebook statuses, but nothing extraordinary. The bulk of traffic for me comes from search engines and Pinterest.
You may be one that used to get huge numbers from Facebook, so this change could be hitting you harder than it did me. It might be time to just change the way you view Facebook, or consider exploring new ways to promote on Facebook. There are a few things we can do to improve reach still.
- Band together with a group of bloggers and commit to “liking” and commenting on all their Facebook posts daily.
- Post more frequently, (you could even schedule things out) to have better chances of reaching more of your fans.
- Find pages bigger than you and work together! Shauna from Best Blogger Recipes is doing great with this method. You can read her post about it here!
Whatever method you choose, it’s clear that we have to change something. Either it’s the way we depend on Facebook, how we are promoting or who we are promoting with.
Even though it has never consistently brought huge numbers to my blog, I have always loved Facebook and still love it! Why? Because it allows me to engage with my readers in a way that typical blogging does not. I’m able to ask how their day is going, or share a laugh with them over a funny image. My Facebook page makes me more ‘real’ as a blogger and I love that.
Facebook has never been about the numbers for me, because they’ve honestly never been that spectacular. It’s about engaging with my followers with or without links back to my own site.
Also, many brands are still asking about numbers on Facebook when you apply for sponsored posts. Those numbers still count for something, even if we’re not getting all the benefits that they once had.
So, while many bloggers are leaving Facebook behind, I’ve decided to stick it out. Maybe Facebook will come to their senses and realize that people “like” our pages for a reason to see what we’re posting, and decide to start sharing it with them. Maybe they won’t. But I’m sticking it out.
This is also a good time to remember not to put all your trust (for traffic) in one site alone. The rules can change at any time, and we need to be ready for that. I hate to think what would happen if our beloved Pinterest started doing something similar, so I’m doing my best to make sure my reach is spread across lots of different platforms so that if one site stops being useful, I will have others to fall back on. It’s a long a tedious journey, but we’ll get there!
What about you? Are you upset about Facebook’s changes? Abandoning the site altogether? Or sticking it out?
I have to say that I still love FB even though they drive me nuts. I am so disappointed that my fans have grown and my reach has shrunk. I post something that I think is fun and witty……..41 people see it. What a drag! I never really got much traffic to my blog from my FB page, but there was some. I can get the traffic there in other ways……my blog is still growing……but I do miss the engagement with my readers. I don’t like the idea of paying for people who already are following me. Why would I do that FB? Just so they can’t see my next post? I’m not made of money. I’m a little blogger for pete’s sake.
I could care less about FB because I never use it. I am a huge G+ fan. I love love love love love it. 🙂 More of you need to come over there and start using it. It helps with pagerank and SEO.
And I know the biggest complaints are that it is a ghost town or that it is confusing. But it is the second most used social network behind FB and if you go in thinking that it is different from FB and that you are going to give yourself a month to read and learn it, then it is not so frustrating.
Suzy- you should do a guest post for us about Google +. I would love to read it!! 🙂
While I have seen a drop in my 3 fan pages, I am still a fan of FB. It allows a LOT of interaction with my core fans, and I like that. And things stay visible.
I feel like FB is still the best way to connect with my readers. I get to know them better through FB. Twitter moves quickly and google+ is still confusing and I forget about it. Neither brings the shared connection I get from FB.
Love this! I agree and plan on doing the same. 🙂
You make some very good points. I never got a huge amount of traffic from fb but now it’s next to nothing. Although I’m not leaving it completely behind, it’s still a great way to connect and engage with fans, I’m putting less effort into it. We have to take advantage of what we have for social media outlets, fb is now public and needs to generate revenue for it’s stockholders. Twitter may be next and who knows maybe one day Pinterest. It’s an every changing landscape. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, love this blog!