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Facebook Changes Dec 2013 - What You Need To Know For Your Business
With Facebook revealing that less of your fans are going to see your Facebook posts
and that in order to get more fans to see more of your posts, you will have to pay for
advertising. Iím going to share with you things that you need to consider for your
business. Including how to keep control of your business and not let Facebook control
it. How this could be a good opportunity for you as a small business. Why I think as a
small business you can do just as well if not better than the big brands with their
big budgets. How you can still use Facebook and get business results. What else you need
to do to safeguard the fan base you have already built and the best tool for running your ads
effectively, getting the best prices and results.
Change with Facebook, I think is inevitable. The same as any other social media platform,
and probably just about any online activity that you can do to promote your business,
it seems as if change is always around the corner. Now I appreciate that can really frustrating.
These changes come in either at a time where you're just starting to get the hang of using
Facebook or it's working really well for you, and it's like bam, another change comes and
hits you. It feels like a little bit more to learn, something to change or do differently.
But I think there's one thing that is guaranteed and that is, there will always be changes.
So you need to decide if you are willing to keep up with those changes and embrace the
changes. Or is keeping up with them just too much for you. If it is then you might want
to get somebody else to help you with this, teach you it or even take it over completely.
Overall, I feel you need to accept that change is about the only thing that happens constantly
with online marketing. And you need to decide, are you willing to embrace the changes or
not.
Organic Reach Dropping For Facebook Posts Might Be An Opportunity In Disguise. Let me
explain. I do appreciate that now Facebook may show your posts to less fans is frustrating.
I absolutely appreciate that. But hereís where I think there may be an opportunity.
When you make a Facebook post, Facebook decides who will see that. They base it on their algorithm,
as to who likes, comments and shares, then they choose which of your fans get to see
your posts. Now I think quite a while weíve been reasonably happy because thatís happened
for free and weíve gone along with it. Now theyíre saying we may have to pay for some
of our posts to be shown to fans and I think that in itself could be a good opportunity.
Because it puts you as the business, as the owner of your Facebook page, it puts you back
in control of who sees your posts. Now youíll probably still be wanting to doing some posts
that get organic reach where you leave down to Facebook to show to whoever they think
and there is no cost. Letís say that youíve got a post that you really want either all
of your fans to see or perhaps a specific segment. Say thereís part of your Facebook
page perhaps based on age, gender, occupation or geographical location, a specific part
of your fan base that you want to see a particular post. So if you were doing an event or a promotion
and itís in the UK only, and your fan base is from all over the world, when you leave
it to Facebook to show for free, they show it to whoever they think. Now that you may
have to pay to have posts promoted, you can choose exactly who you want to see it. Then
you wonít be cluttering up your fans newsfeed with posts about something that is going on
in the UK or is only female related for example. You can just advertise that particular post
to that fan base. Youíre back in control and you can be sure fans have seen your post.
Whereas when we just post and rely on Facebookís organic reach, theyíre choosing not you.
Some Facts About Why Your Business Might Want To Use Facebook. Perhaps youíre considering
using Facebook, wondering whether to continue with it or is it worth dealing with any of
the changes that have come up. So hereís some facts why you might want to consider
that Facebook could be a great marketing tool for your business. It has a massive user base
with over 1 billion users, thatís 1 in 7 people has a Facebook account. There are a
massive amount of people on there. Where else could you possibly get to reach that many
people? Now admittedly you probably donít need billions of customers but it gives you
a really broad base to market your business on. Facebook has a very active user base,
extremely active. In fact, 23% of users log on to Facebook at least 5 times per day and
even the average use of Facebook is 4 times per day. So people are used to regularly checking
in there, they want to keep an eye on things that are happening. Also,for prospects, customers
and those people who are likely to buy from you, Facebook may be a great way to connect
with them. After all, 80% of social media users like to connect with brands on Facebook.
So it could be that your target market would expect you to have a Facebook page. Now Iím
not suggesting that you have to have one because they expect it but I would say it is a consideration
as to whether you do have a Facebook page, and how much you use it.
Is Facebook the right tool for promoting your business? This is a question you need to be
asking yourself quite regularly. It could be that you are just starting to use Facebook
or thinking of using it. Perhaps you've been using it for a while or you're facing some
of the changes that are coming up. You need to know, is Facebook the right or one of the
best tools to use in your business.
So how would you know if it could be the right tool? One of the things you need to consider
is, are your target market or audience, those people most likely to buy from you, are they
on Facebook? Do they use Facebook regularly? If they are then Facebook could be a really
great way to reach them.
That's the next point. How easily can you reach your target market on Facebook? Some
markets are going to be harder to reach on Facebook than others. For some industries,
Facebook might be about one of the only ways that you can reach that market. You need to
decide for your business, is your target market on Facebook and there's a good chance they
could be. And can you reach that target market easily. If you can, then Facebook may be a
great tool for you to use or it may be one of the best. If they're not on there and you
can't reach them easily or you've tried before and it's just not working, then perhaps it's
time to move from Facebook.
Get over the emotional stuff. Now I do appreciate that with these recent changes emotions are
running high and to a degree Facebook has been something weíve had for free, and as
a business we could use for free but now theyíre saying we might have to pay for ads so that
your posts are seen. That can feel tough to take on board and I absolutely appreciate
that. But what you need to do is understand that quite a bit of that is emotional stuff
and you need to get over that. Choosing to use Facebook or not and choosing to use their
ads or not, needs to be based on a business decision. That ultimately is, the results
that it brings. You may not like the changes Facebook made and you may not agree with them,
you may think theyíve done themselves a lot of harm but lots of these things are emotion
based thoughts. Instead, you need to focus on the factual parts, what can it do your
business and how could it help your business. Bottom line, what are the results it can or
does drive for your business. Get over the emotional stuff.
Will big brands with big budgets takeover Facebook now? I understand there are concerns
from small business owners that now with having to pay for posts to be seen in the newsfeed.
The concern is, because big brands have the larger advertising budgets that they will
be able to afford to do this and us small business owners wonít. I donít agree. I
think as small business owners we actually have massive advantages, particularly in social
media, over big brands. Primarily, I think thatís because we are closer to the end user.
Weíre closer to our fans on our Facebook page. Weíre closer to our clients and prospects.
I think we can get a better feel for whatís being said and not being said. We can take
a look at some feedback and decide to do something about it quite quickly. I donít see and I
donít feel that many big brands have this sort of feedback mechanism in place. Whoever
is handling their social media is often too many steps removed from the person who needs
to make the changes or decisions. I feel they miss out big time on that. Whereas for us
small business owners, I feel itís a major benefit, weíre there, weíre much closer,
we can respond, we can act quicker, we can make changes quicker. Okay they may have more
money to invest in advertising but as a small business owner I think we can still use that
advertising with much smaller budgets and generate much better results from it than
they ever can. Yes, the big brands may win with regards to the budget they have to spend
on their advertising. Us as small business owners, I believe can win with regards to
the engagement and learning gained from social media. Thatís what we need to focus on. What
are the benefits that we as small business owners can get from social media? Particularly
the benefits the big brands canít get and that we can use to our advantage.
Facebook never has been free. It is often talked about as a free platform, a free social
media site that we can use to promote our business. Yes, it has been free in the respect
that so far you havenít specifically pay Facebook to do anything on their site. Now
theyíve revealed you may have to pay for some of your posts to be seen, that feels
as if itís changed. But actually I donít feel itís changed at all. Facebook has always
had a cost associated with it, primarily thatís been a time cost. So whether itís your personal
time or youíre paying a social media management company to do it, there is a time cost involved.
I think now that they are going to be charging for your posts to be seen by more users actually
will make people sit up and realise that there has been a cost of until now. And have they
even considered whether theyíre getting a return or not? Itís too easy to think, it
only takes a little bit of my time but you still need to get a return on investment for
that time. That time has to be worthwhile. I think when you start having to pay for it,
then you start to consider it more. You start to realise that this has to work from me,
it needs to work for my business and it needs to start producing results.
So letís just assume that your hourly rate for what you do, say is £25 per hour. Letís
keep it simple and say you would spend two hours per week on Facebook. So effectively
it is costing you £50 per week to run your Facebook page. Thatís aside from perhaps
any images or anything else you need to buy, this is just purely sticking to the time cost.
It is costing you £50 per week because in those two hours you couldnít be working in
your business earning and hence £200 per month. Is your Facebook page generating the
results to make that a worthwhile investment? If not, is it time to look at what youíre
doing and what you can change? But if it is and youíre getting a return on that investment,
whether if itís small or quite good, now just imagine if you paid to advertise some
of those posts. Yes, it would increase your costs from say the £200 time cost, adding
letís say £100 for advertising and bringing your costs up to £300. But now you are paying
for the advertising, those posts are reaching many more of your fans. Whereas it might have
been 10 to 16%, and dropping recently, perhaps youíre able to reach say 50 to 60% of your
fans. Now if you were able to get a return from the £200 time cost, could it be that
you get an even better return when you add the £100 for advertising.
I think that Facebook charging to advertise our posts to our fans could be a really good
opportunity to take Facebook seriously as a marketing tool for your business and a way
to get results. It may be this is the final thing that gets you focused and realising
that you need to find a way to make it work for you.
Donít let Facebook control your business. These recent changes may feel that Facebook
has the control and to a degree they have. Itís their platform, they can do what they
like. And it can feel that us as Facebook page owners are just on the receiving end
of it. But it doesnít have to be like that. You can take back control. You can use Facebook
as a platform, the way they want it to be used and know what you want to achieve out
of it for your business, then find a way to make that happen. So that you are back in
control of your business.
Itís still about quality content and fan engagement. Even with the changes that Facebook
are making with advertising your posts, quality content and fan engagement is still going
to be the key. They are going to be the two things that help you to get your posts into
the newsfeed of your fans but also where you will need to be focusing anyway if you are
advertising. Because that is going to be a key to making the advertising successful.
So I think if there is one great thing that can be learnt from these recent Facebook changes,
itís that you really need to be focusing on quality content and fan engagement. If
you wouldnít be willing to pay for your post to be shown to your fans, do you need to question
if the post was a worthwhile one to make anyway?
What do you want your Facebook page to achieve for your business? You need to be clear about
this. When you are really clear about specifically what you want your Facebook page to achieve
your business then you will know better whether Facebook is the right tool for you, to stick
with it when changes happen or to know whether you want to use their ads to help promote
your business. I encourage you to spend even just a little bit of time and think, what
is it that you specifically want your Facebook page to achieve for you? Hereís a clue. Itís
not about getting lots and lots of likes. Is it what you want to be achieved beyond
those likes. What does getting those likes mean for your business? Thatís where you
need to focus and know what you want to achieve from your Facebook page.
Use Facebook as one step in your marketing. What I mean by that is, that marketing takes
people from getting some awareness about you, your products, your services and moving them
through the process to being ready to buy. Now for some businesses that is just one step.
They would see or come across your product or service and buy it probably almost on impulse
or they know they want to buy it and would do so next week or next month anyway. They
are actually ready to buy. Then there are other industries where there would be more
of a process before, more things would need to happen before they finally buy from you.
Facebook can be a great tool to use in one or even more of the steps in that process.
Basically, I mean by that, Facebook could be used as a tool, a funnel to bring people
into part of that process. So consider how you can use Facebook as one or more of the
steps in the buying process your target audience need to go through you.
Itís about results. Using Facebook is just a tool. The real value is how that tool can
help you to achieve the goals you want to achieve for your business. How is it helping
you to get business results? And thatís where your focus needs to be. Forget the emotional
stuff and focus on the bottom line. Consider, what results are you getting using Facebook
or what results do you want to get from using Facebook? Now focus on those and work out
how you can get those results.
Monitor your results and continually improve on them. Whether youíve been getting great
results, mediocre results or not quite enough results so far with Facebook, itís those
results that you need to keep your focus on. Start monitoring them, know exactly whatís
working, whatís bringing you the results. And now that they are encouraging you to use
paid ads, just imagine how you could increase those results using their advertising. Little
increases, little changes, little improvements can make all the difference. Especially with
tools like Facebook, itís very easy to think, itís not working for me, itís not working
for my business. Usually it can and does work for most businesses, the difficulty is often
finding the way to get it to work. Know the results you want, focus on them, monitor them,
know whatís bringing the results and look to continually improve on those so that youíre
getting better and better results.
Get your fans email addresses. Why do you need to be getting their email addresses?
Because while they are on Facebook, Facebook own that asset. Facebook controls it and as
weíve seen Facebook makes changes that not everyone is always happy about. But when you
get your Facebook fans onto your email list that gives you another opportunity to connect
with them, perhaps thatís sending out your blog posts, and useful articles and information.
Giving you another opportunity to connect with them but most importantly, you own that
database of emails. Facebook now has absolutely nothing to do with it. So whatever changes
they make, you are now in control of the email list that youíve built up. That means that
should Facebook ever close down your page or fall out of favour, thereís the possibility
you lose those fans. If youíve got them on your email database you still have them as
an asset for your business and an opportunity to send follow-up information, and connect
with them again.
Facebook advertising: not just a cost it could be a worthwhile investment. Now that Facebook
have said that we may need to pay for more of our posts to be seen by our target audience,
I realise this can be quite tough for many businesses to take on board. You look at it,
you had a free platform and it didnít cost you anything. Well actually it did, because
it cost you time but Iím not going to go into that at this moment. It appeared to be
a free platform and now they are saying you have to pay for it and the thought is, ìthatís
going to cost my businessî. But what if, instead of it being a cost to your business
that it is actually an investment that gives you a return? So rather than feeling, ìUrgh,
I have to spend $10 now to promote this postî. How could that, instead of it being a cost
to your business, be an investment that you look to get a return on? Yes I appreciate
it is going to be money going out but with some thought and planning that could become
an investment in your business with returns, not just costs youíre having to pay out.
Use power editor for your ads. Now that Facebook have revealed that we need to pay for more
users to see our posts, I think the biggest mistake small businesses will make is they
will see the option to promote their post or boost their post. There will see that option
against the post and it looks like the most obvious thing to use, so theyíll use that
one. Now my suggestion is that you avoid that one completely. First of all, it tends to
be very expensive. I have to say Iíve never used it. But Iíve heard a lot of people say
that the results they get are very poor with it. Let me explain why the results could be
poor and what you can do better. When you click the promote post button, it also promotes
to friends of your fans. Now it be that you only want that post to go to your fans. So
using the promote post button sends it to more people than you may want it to go to
and hence it pushes your price up. So thatís one reason. Secondly, you only get to set
one lot of targeting to promote that post. So you click the promote post button and you
can choose some of your targeting, perhaps age, gender, geographical location. You can
set that targeting once if you use the promote post button. But what if you want to target
a couple of different segments of your user base because you want to see the results that
youíre getting. It might be that you want to target that post, promote that post to
a couple of different age groups and see what results you get. Based on those results then
you might be able to fine tune your advertising the next time round to only focus on that
age group for example. Now going back to the option of promote post where it promotes to
your fans and friends of fans, for some industries or for some posts that may work well. The
only way to know though is to try it out and you canít do that through the promote post
button. Youíve either got to choose it or not. Whereas the tool that Iím recommending
to you, the power editor, through that what you can do is you can take your post then
create say 4, 6 or 8 ads with different targeting and see which gives you the best results.
So you could try targeting just your fans, you could try targeting friends of fans and
then you could target by age group, geographical location. You could break down the targeting
to be a lot more specific. The idea behind that is it gives much better results to your
ads. The power editor can be accessed through the browser, Chrome. It will take a little
bit of getting used to, to use. But I would say it would give you much better targeted
results and once you get used to it, itís quite an easy interface to use. Promote post
might seem to be quite easy in the respect that you just click the promote post button
and itís done. But I would say itís not the most effective way to be running your
adverts and learning from them, to be targeting your next posts much more effectively.
Consider cross promotion to other social media sites. Now might be a time you want to consider
getting some of the fans from your Facebook page to also be following you on other social
media sites. Perhaps to follow you on Twitter, Google Plus, connect with you on LinkedIn.
It gives you an opportunity to spread your base across the social media sites so that
when changes are made you arenít left feeling completely stuck. But also it gives you an
opportunity to reach that user base in different ways. It might be that you have a fan on Facebook
that for whatever reason doesnít connect with you very often through your page or engage
with you but if they followed you on Twitter they may do more so. It may be thatís the
social media site they prefer even if they do use Facebook. But primarily my suggestion
for considering to cross promote is to get that base spread across the social media sites.
You could use Facebook posts and you may want to pay for the advertising for these, to encourage
your fan base to follow you on different social media sites.