Facebook Fan Pages and Edgerank

There have been quite a few posts going around saying that Facebook is now requiring Facebook Page owners to pay for posts. This is inaccurate. Facebook has made some important changes to their Edgerank Alogorithm recently and that does effect how, when and if Business page fans actually see your posts.

Facebook does offer several new options for Fan/Business page owners, one is to pay for promoted posts, a page needs at least 400 fans to get the option, this may not be an option for many small businesses as the average small business page has less then 250 fans.

The other is page post fan targeting, an option that Facebook just rolled out recently, the option to utilize this is unchecked by default, so page owners may not see it as an option, more information here

https://www.facebook.com/help/352402648173466?campaign_id=538349776179503&placement=pageadminemail

The purpose of EdgeRank, in Facebook’s words is “to aggregate content that a person will find interesting. It displays stories based on their relevance rather than in chronological order.”

To keep a edge up on Edgerank so more fans see your posts:

1. Post Photos, the more the better
2. Post updates with links/URLs (website or other internet addresses)
3. Share from other Facebook Business Pages to your own page
4. Content has to be interesting, think before you post. Keep in mind funny and information posts get shared and commented on the most.

It’s a proven fact that posting nothing but sales, specials or offers is likely to make fans either unfan/unlike a business page or block them totally (so no posts appear in their feeds at all) so try to keep a variety of things posted. Every business has information that can be interesting or informational to share.

Facebook ranks comments higher then likes, so when posting try to engage fans, so if you are going to post sales offers, add a question or seek input as well. i.e. This weekend we have all XX Brand on sale for 24% OFF, what types of products (or services) would you like to see us carry/sell?

There has also been some talk about interest lists and having fans “have” to add your fan/business page to an interest list to make a difference in Edgerank. Interest lists have been around since early in 2012 and there has been no evidence as of yet that it influences Edgerank. Interest lists are of use to business owners but so far is a little used feature by most users. Facebook at some point  might push the feature more and then it may impact Edgerank, but up until that time Business page owners need to focus on creating engaging and interesting content..