Is Facebook Worth the Effort for Marketers Anymore?

Many marketers are now staring at their Facebook pages and wondering if it's worth their effort after it was reported by Valleywag that an anonymous source familiar with Facebook's strategy claimed a new algorithm would reduce the reach of organic posts to one to two percent. The news comes on the heels an algorithm change only a few month ago that industry experts believe dropped organic reach from 16% of page fans to less than five. This declining trend is nothing new, and Facebook hasn't been shy in making their intentions here known, nor have they been apologetic.

Despite Facebook's official claims that their aim is to improve the quality and relevancy of news feed content, marketers view the dwindling organic reach as a form of being held hostage. Under the "pay-to-play" model companies that have already paid to acquire their audience through page Likes now must pay again in order to reach that audience. For those companies with large fan bases and big ad budgets this means Facebook will become a necessary evil of sorts, but for everyone else, including those with top-notch content, it's no longer a level playing field and the question then becomes, "Why bother?"

Not everyone, though, views this move by Facebook, which improved year-over-year ad business 76% to $2.3 billion in Q4 of 2013, as simply a means of increasing revenue and stockholder value. Justin Kistner, the VP of Strategy at ShopIgnitor who has studied Facebook's algorithms intensively for years sees something else.

Kistner agrees that attempting to generate traffic through unpaid posts is no longer a viable option, but he contends that the social network's algorithms are rewarding posts for their "off-Facebook value." In other words, Kistner believes Facebook wants to be viewed "as a platform that drives people to other experiences" centered on lead generation, e-commerce, in-store retail, and other traditional marketing. One indicator he points to in his presentation, 4 Key Lessons: New Research on What Works in the News Feed, is how views of regular Facebook page status posts dropped by 65% since the last algorithm update while views of posts incorporating links to other sites increased by 30%.

What does this then mean for marketers and brands? Should they abandon Facebook in the name of futility? Certainly Facebook's pay-to-play message puts companies and agencies in an unpleasant spot, but I also think it's premature to write Facebook off as an option. Time will tell, however. Until then marketers will need to adjust their tactics in a few areas.

1. Continue to produce quality content that people will Like and share. By all indications increased engagement still positively impacts an organic post's performance. Additionally, post good content that includes links and photos regularly without crossing the line of being annoying.

2. Budget for paid ads and sponsored posts but do so purposefully. At the moment Facebook advertising is relatively cheap, but that doesn't mean you can go bonkers. Review your page's Insights, pinpoint your target audience, and promote content that can yield tangible results like linking to a landing page offer that generates leads.

3. Get serious about mobile. Kistner estimated that 80% of users access Facebook via mobile devices daily, and as such, links to mobile apps and mobile-specific websites perform better in news feeds. In his presentation Kistner also highlights areas to make content "Social+Mobile" optimized which includes the use of Open Graph meta tags, closed loop measurement, optimized mobile design, and integrated conversion specs within apps.

If none of these options are worth your department's time, money, and effort then I wouldn't expect a whole lot of return from Facebook going forward.

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