How the Facebook Algorithm Works [And Why You May Need Paid Ads]

One question that we hear a lot here is “why am I not getting more engagement on Facebook?” It’s a good question and one we always answer honestly: the Facebook algorithm is not geared towards organic content from business profiles. This, in turn, always leads to more questions. 

We’re going to answer as many of these questions as we can today to help you understand the Facebook algorithm a little better as well as what you can do to get around its limitations. 

Should My Business Even Have a Facebook Page?

Yes, your business needs to have a Facebook page for visibility and search purposes. While your followers may not see every post that you add to your page, they will eventually see some of them. 

People also tend to search for businesses on Facebook to see how active they are as well as how they engage with their followers. Having an active presence as well as a significant number of positive reviews is an important trust signal.

What Does Facebook Feature Most Prominently?

Generally, you’ll see things in this order:

• Paid content (this often is the first consideration since it makes the platform money)
• Content from other users that you’re likely to interact with based on your user history
• Content from groups you’ve joined that you’re likely to interact with
• Content from company pages that you’ve showed interest in

Everyone’s Facebook feed is going to look a little bit different based on what they enjoy, their beliefs, their interests, and who they interact with the most. The whole point of the algorithm is to keep people in the app as long as possible, so Facebook wants to deliver the best possible experience to each user.

For many users, this means that business page content gets pushed to the bottom of the pile. 

Is There a Point to Posting Organic Posts on Business Pages?

Yes! You absolutely want to continue posting organically to your business page and you want to do so regularly. We generally recommend three to five times per week. The more active you are and the more quality content you can get in front of your user base, the more likely people are to actually see your posts.

Plus, as we mentioned above, you want any users who visit your page to see that you’re engaged and active.

What Are Some of the Things I Can Do to Get Eyes on My Posts?

There are a few things that you can do to get more people to see your posts. First, you want to post frequently. If there’s nothing there for Facebook to deliver, that’s a problem. Make sure that your posts are relevant to your users and don’t solely exist as advertising.

You’ll also want to encourage people to engage with your posts – specifically people who are not admins on your page. The more diverse your audience engagement is, the more likely Facebook is to deliver your posts to more people. Add calls to action to your posts or ask people in the community to like, comment, and share.

Putting dollars behind ads or boosting your posts can also help more people to see your posts.

Do I Need to Invest in Paid Ads on Social Media?

For a lot of businesses, the answer here is yes, you really need to put out some ad money, especially behind your more important posts. Facebook likes to deliver paid ads because it makes them more money.

The good news here is that you don’t need to put a ton of money into Facebook advertising to see a decent return on your investment (ROI). In some cases, we recommend just doing a dollar-a-day campaign so Facebook sees that you’re putting money in and prioritizes your posts.

Are There Other Platforms I Should Be Using?

Almost definitely. Facebook is a good platform for most organizations, but it isn’t the only platform with value.

If your business is primarily B2B, you want to make sure that you’re using LinkedIn – both your personal account as well as your business account. Companies that are strongly visual (real estate, designers, product-driven companies) tend to do very well on Instagram. And as we really like to harp on around here, ALL businesses should be using Google My Business.

We hope this answered most of your questions about the Facebook algorithm! If you still have questions or you’d like to find out more about getting eyes on your posts, give us a call today at 410-696-3305 or contact us online.