Many authors and publishers, as well as other (small) business owners use Facebook as part of their Internet Presence and Marketing Strategy. Previously, Facebook seemed like a great way to connect with fans and potential customers, without having to invest a lot except time and social aptitude.
If you could convince someone to like your Facebook page, any updates or news you would post on your page, would be visible in their Newsfeed. This was brilliant, and free. And then Facebook decided to monetise.
Lately, a lot of Page Admins are noticing drastic decreases in traffic from Facebook, and the reason for that is that fewer people get to see your page updates. You may be wondering ; “But I’ve actually increased my number of likes on Facebook recently, howcome fewer people are getting my updates?”. That may be so, but Facebook has stopped showing your posts to everyone who liked your page. According to the latest statistics, posts from Facebook pages are only shown to 16% of people who liked the page.
According to Facebook, the solution is the “Promote” feature, perhaps you’ve come across it when posting on your page. Perhaps you’ve wondered if it’s worth trying out. Well, unless every single thing you used to post would bring in measurable income, no. – it’s not worth it at all!
If you have a marketing budget currently, and spend on things like Google Adwords for example, you’ll be used to the idea of paying for traffic. But with Facebook, you don’t pay when someone visits your site or buys your product. You simply pay for the chance of being seen by someone in their Newsfeed, even if that person doesn’t even bother to read your post.
Understandably this change has gotten a lot of small business owners, authors and publishers riled up. No longer can you rely on Facebook for free social media marketing. It’s time perhaps to give Google + another chance, or focus your marketing efforts on Twitter and other outlets such as Tumblr or Pinterest.
If you’re determined to keep making use of the following you’ve built up on Facebook, currently there are means of getting around the problem – stop using Facebook pages and instead create a Group and try to get your following to join. Alternatively, if you’re an author rather than running a business and you’re looking to connect with fans, use your personal Facebook Profile instead. Either encourage your fans to friend you, or subscribe to any public updates you post. It’s uncertain though whether these workarounds will continue to be effective, or if it’s time to write off Facebook alltogether.
