Things You May Not Know About Facebook

Recently, I was on Facebook and saw a post from my best friend Jen.  She posted it in our WESOS group (an amazing women’s networking group you should really check out!) and asked for my opinion on the post she had seen.  I immediately started responding to her question and realized it was too long for Facebook but would be a nice article for my blog and first enewsletter.  

Prior to my seeing the post, someone else had responded and shared that she gained a lot of exposure for $5 using Facebook ads.  This is a perfect example of what Facebook is trying to accomplish by changing how they show things in our News Feed.  Facebook is a business and many businesses are using it for promotion without paying a fee.  The hope is that businesses will pay for advertising to get better results.  

Think about your business for a minute.  If you had a bunch of people using your services for free would you be able to stay in business?  Although Facebook is huge compared to our businesses, it's still a business and functions on the same principles. How long can it stay around and continue to benefit the average person if everything is totally free.  The way to do that is to charge businesses for reaching potential clients.  This is really no different than a radio station selling ads.  Businesses buy ads to reach the people who are listening for free.  As the example of $5 for increased exposure shows, Facebook is providing a very inexpensive way to reach people and getting good results.  

There are literally thousands out there kicking and screaming and making a stand against Facebook for it's changes.  By no means am I saying that I like all the changes Facebook continues to make or that I like the idea of having to pay to get good results on Facebook.  However, as a business owner who expects not to give too many of my services away for free, I do think Facebook is entitled to do the same.  Times are changing quickly and Facebook is no different.  Each time another social media site changes, Facebook changes to keep up and stay ahead of it's competition.  While they do, other social media sites are doing the same.  It's too much to keep up with and can be exhausting and confusing at times.  That's why using social media experts is important.  I am NOT a social media expert. I do, though, rely on the many social media experts I've met in my networking groups to keep me up to speed so that my business can be most effective and I can help my followers do the same.

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If we want to avoid placing ads and capitalize on as much of the free exposure we can get, then we need to listen to tricks of the trade from social media experts.  The post my friend shared is from a group she is a part of (name covered to keep their anonymity).  It appears the group has seen a decrease in people seeing their posts.  To help this, they are encouraging their followers to make comments and request notifications.  

• MAKING COMMENTS does seem to increase the exposure you get.  It used to be that a like was enough.  However, that's not the case. What matters is engaging people in conversation.  
  ---If you want to support a page, take the extra second to post a comment in addition to your like.  I try to make a habit of that whenever I can provided the post is worth commenting on. 

• REQUESTING NOTIFICATIONS is a good thing for a business to encourage their tribe to do.  As a business, just because someone likes your page, it doesn't mean they are going to see everything you post. (as they explain).  To increase the likelihood, you also want to encourage people to 'follow' your page and to "get notifications".  Following helps ensure they show up in your News Feed (it's usually next to like).  "get notifications" will ensure that they show up when you click on your globe (the notification icon at the top).

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---I want to caution people about the 'get notification' option.  If this is a page you really like and don't want to miss a beat on, definitely ask to get notifications.  However, don't do that for every page you've ever liked or you will be spending most of your time sifting through notifications.

---You can request to 'get notifications' for people you want to always see too, it's not just for businesses.  Sometimes my husband will post something on his timeline and I don't see it.  When the weather was bad, he posted they were closing his school early.  As I was frantically rushing home to shuttle the kids, I called him to see how delayed he would be.  To my surprise, he was already home. When I asked why he didn't text me to let me know what was going on, he said "well I put it on Facebook".  Thanks to Facebook and it's constant changing of it's algorithms, I didn't see it.  At that point, I decided to tell Facebook to "get notifications" for my husband so that I could be just as up on things as his Facebook friends,  As you can see from my sample at left, sometimes being notified about everything a page or person does can get to be annoying.  So again, I caution to choose wisely. 
These two things only help that person see your posts. To ensure you get high ratings and show up in more of the posts of those that have liked you, you need to be sure you are posting good content that encourages people to engage.  Many people still are in the habit of forgetting that Facebook shouldn't be used to just regurgitate announcements to people about their latest promotion. Commenting is engaging and the more people do that on your page, the greater the number of people who will see your post.  Each time a comment is made your post moves back up to the top of a News Feed increasing the chances people will see it.  

Two others commented on the post and provided links to some blogs from social media experts. If you are looking for more specific information, I encourage you to check them out.

• How To Get Your Facebook Posts Noticed in the News Feed by Social Media Examiner
• The Best Way to Increase Organic Reach by Social Triggers