Understanding your Facebook fan page algorithm 

First of all, we don’t like to use the word “algorithm”. Some social media ‘experts’ use this word to confuse potential customers and to, well, sound smart.

Heck yeah, we’re smart. But, we also want to make you smart by disseminating what we’ve learned.

That said, the big online corporations do operate with an algorithm that is complex, always changing and never completely public. They use this data to make the digital personal by attempting to make decisions as our brain would – to show us more of what we like and want to see, and ignore what we don’t.

Another issue these algorithms are tackling is “like baiting“, which is just as big of a problem and important to you. We’ll tackle this in an upcoming article.

Why don’t all my fans see my posts?

When you make a post, Facebook distributes it to a small fraction of your likes to gauge reaction.

If they engage with your post by liking, commenting or sharing, Facebook distributes the post to more of your fans and even their friends.

If your likes aren’t true likes (if a fan(s) aren’t truly interested in the content your page is distributing), the distribution goes out to fewer people. You reach fewer people.

That’s how a rising number of fans can result in a drop in engagement. 

What can you do?

1. If you buy likes through Facebook Ads, make sure they are valid. Do this by targeting your market and always keep a close eye on the likes coming in. Investigate and make sure they are valid. If you are a retail business located in Evansville, Indiana, are you targeting Evansville and the surrounding area?
2. Check out your Facebook insights tab to see the demographics of your likes. Do they fit with your Ad campaigns? Do they fit your target market?
3. Provide valuable content that true fans of your business would like.

So that’s your homework. Get to it. You could be missing valuable engagement, but there’s still time to fix it.