Customer & consumer care plays a huge role in social success.
Notice I said customer AND consumer. A lot of my Facebook page “fans”, I prefer to call them followers, aren’t necessarily going to hire me. They may, though, choose to collaborate and contract with me. They might also choose to share my content if I write or create something they believe will be of value to their own fans/followers.
Thus, I’m saddened to see so much “reach” gaming going on by many social solutions providers in the wake of the many Facebook algorithm changes. What am I talking about?
- Choosing to opt for text only posts over more visual and interesting images.
- Leaving out the preview and thumbnail image when posting links to blog posts and other articles
- Posting links as a comment, rather than in the body of post.
Now, when I say that certain page owners are gaming, I am not stating that they are violating terms of service in any way, shape or form. I do feel, however, that they are violating the pact with their fans. How?
Well, they’re adding steps to the system when it comes to those links. An individual can’t see what it’s about without a preview…so they’ve lost the ability to decide on the fly if it’s something they want to read. Taking it one step further, if the link is in a comment, they can’t see it at all in the feed, until they click on the comment link. Are you so sure of your pull and importance within your fan base that you want to test their willingness to take an unnecessary step? I am not.
While reach has been dropping for all of us over time, I have found that engagement levels have remained level and or increased, with the same kinds of posts I’ve always relied upon. Compelling and entertaining images, links to great content from trusted and innovative sources and the occasional fun fill-in-the-blank.
Numbers and ROI are always important, but there are more important numbers than reach. Engagement, customer satisfaction and continued discussion & sharing tip the scales in an important and vital way.
I have not changed the way that I post, and I won’t anytime soon. My fans, my consumers of content and my possible, as well as current, clients have built a relationship with me because they appreciate what I say and share. It defeats the purpose to tweak that endlessly to further my reach. To do so would prove that I only think of my own end as important, which I don’t. I think the conversation, the discussion and the collaborations being built are what makes social media social.
If I want more eyes to see my stuff I’ll spend even more time than I currently do reaching out and putting my own eyeballs on the content of others, sharing it, and commenting when a good discussion is presented to me. I won’t do it by letting down those who have chosen to like my page for the quality of my posts over the quantity of my “reach”.
I’m sure there may be some dissenting opinions and I welcome a great discussion.
I’m so glad you decided to write this. It’s so interesting to see the juxtaposition of the two sides all over my Facebook feed. I feel that more people air on the side of asking their fans to help them out (LAZY) or try and “cheat” the system (NOT COOL). I’ll be interested to see how people comment below and will chime in if I feel the need!!
Thanks, Brooke! I’m not outing anyone, at least not implicitly. I just don’t see the value in forgetting that social is a two way street and if we only worry about reach and how we/my page is impacted, we’re forgetting about the impact we’ve tried to build with our own fans and followers.
Yep I won’t disagree one bit. Generally I think this whole thing about people discussing things, liking each other (in the real way not because of a thumbs up), and being interesting has become completely overplayed and overcomplicated. In general our industry (the digital marketing industry) has managed to make a highly complex algorithm out of human interaction. I like you have no intention or interest in “gaming” any way to improve my reach
Well said, Megha. Gaming has taken on so many new “definitions” that it’s almost being overused. But, here, I think it’s a legitimate choice!
Great post! I just read about someone I follow who did an experiment on pictures versus not pictures. The result was that no pictures had better exposure. Folks are going to go there, sadly and FB is going to end up looking like Twitter with ads. I love the visual nature of FB, I’ll miss it.
My posts will remain visual, Kerry. Because I’m less worried about reach and more concerned about continuing in a vein that is actually what gathered my fan base. I can increase my reach by working across a variety of platforms, rather than nitpicking on only one.
I love this post Mallie! Business is about relationships not just numbers. The numbers mean nothing if you don’t have relationships that are going to help your business and your clients businesses succeed! Playing games for the purpose of falsely altering your numbers hurts no one but yourself. Eventually, clients will leave, potential clients will walk away and you will have nothing left to call a business.
Relationship and ROI. It’s a balance that isn’t always easy to maintain. Thanks for chiming in, Jen.
Really thoughtful points Mallie. Thanks for raising them.
My thoughts are this: every post, regardless of platform, should have an end in mind. A personal why do I care piece. No care – no post. Some posts I want a reaction, and if that’s my only goal, I may post in a fashion that’s hot right now, to maximize eyeball share. Some posts I want to educate my customers and people already there, so I will post in a way that is best for those, based on what I’ve seen work in the very near past. It’s just hard to know how close the past is when the game keeps changing. If only quality content was enough – but it’s not, or bacon wouldn’t get shared at 100x over education.
Love it, Phil! It’s always a better conversation when you can talk bacon!
I understand exactly what you mean, and can even appreciate the sentiment. It’s knowing your audience and knowing your purpose.
Fantastic post, Mallie! I think many have contemplated about the recent reach of text posts vs. posts with visual content. I am so glad that you have put into writing what I have felt. I agree with Jen. Business is about relationships not just numbers and if a visual aid enhances a post, it should be included.
Robin, thanks! When the analytics cruncher (SEO expert) chimes in that maybe we’re taking the numbers a little too seriously, I know I’ve touched on something worth sharing! Your comment definitely added an extra spring to my step.
Good post! I have added a few more text only post to my Facebook Page. I am not a graphic designer and while I have a fantastic one to outsource to, sometimes I just want to ‘talk’ to my audience and say hello. When I do, I now use ‘text only’ posts vs. trying to dig up an image on Flickr or worse, create one on the fly. Most of my text only posts have been in the early AM and it goes to the effect of: “Hi, Good Morning. Hope your day is going well. Drinking my coffee. What will you be working on?” I’ve gotten great engagement. I still offer tips, blog posts and links with images for the other times I post. I am enjoying the increased engagement it gives my page. While I did notice that images might get less reach, mine have had much higher virality lately, especially on the images designed by the Media Barista!
The other two instances you mention, I have seen, but have not used myself and do not intend to. Putting a link in a comment is just tacky and involves using your audience to gain something for yourself. Not social.
Dorien, as you’ve stated…you’re continuing to do something that your fans appreciate and enjoy, and they’re interacting. You’re not making drastic changes to your style in a bid to bang up your numbers.
Great post Mallie as always! I totally agree with you and unfortunately I don’t have words, in English, to discuss your points deeply. I would add everything that Phil Gerbyshak said, for me it depends on what you have in mind and the purpose of the post. I also think that FB with only texts would be extremely boring. On my fan page I’m in the phase of knowing my followers. I started with photos, a little bit of info to make their business better, and educational videos (because I think that these are important to them) but they have no interest in videos, even though I keep posting them. The good thing is I love photos and my audience too. The photos are the only way that I can get engagement on my page and know them better.
Mallie,
I think this a great discussion in the broader context of social media and business. It seems that some businesses push the threshold of what’s acceptable to see what they can get away with, but also to understand how to work best within the platform (Facebook). I personally detest that people have to use their personal Facebook Pages as brand pages to game reach – but some very successful (and shrewd) people do it.
It reminds me of how SEOs advise that you should ideally put your targeted keywords in your title and as the first words of your posts – of course this isn’t naturally how we like to write or read, but many times we do it so that Google knows we exist. What is a brand to do when Facebook acts so adversarial to them? I can see both sides, but agree with you that it’s not in the reader’s best interests. Great insight and provocative piece (though I’d expect no less from you!)
Cheers!