Imagine, that as a social media marketer, you have poured hours of time and resources over the past several years into building your brand on Facebook. Your brand page has thousands of followers and likes, and consistently updated content. You have been using Facebook as a valuable tool to spread your brand and drive traffic.
Then, one morning, as you routinely check your traffic analytics, you notice that your organic traffic has dropped over 50%. “This must be a mistake!”, you think to yourself. But it is not mistake, and social media marketers around the world do not need to imagine this scenario, because as of early December, it has become a reality.
Old Facebook Algorithm
At the end of 2013, social media giant, Facebook, implemented some serious changes to the algorithm which determines which posts and “stories” show up on users’ News Feeds.
The reason for the Facebook algorithm change is to increase the exposure of “high quality” content, while phasing out lower quality content, such as “viral media” and “the latest meme”.
However, an unfortunate consequence of this change is that social media marketers across the board are experiencing drastic declines in their organic traffic, and are up-in-arms over the issue.
Despite their complaints, the fact of the matter is that advertisers using platforms such as Facebook to reach a wider audience are at the mercy of these third parties. No amount of frustrated complaining is going to improve the situation, so social media marketers need to
If you plan on playing the game and continuing to use Facebook as an advertising platform, then there are several things that you should keep in mind to stay on top and weather such changes in the future.
Diversify Your Social Media Portfolio
Facebook should not be your sole or even primary social media platform–expand your horizons! Social media platforms are constantly changing their algorithms (Google does this hundreds of times a year!), so don’t leave all your eggs in one basket. Spread your content out across various and diverse platforms; Twitter, Delicious, Pinterest, Blogger.
Assess Your Marketing Budget
Generally, Facebook is considered a free way for brands to communicate with their fans…to an extent. If you want high exposure and high traffic, your going to have to pay for it, and it can be expensive, especially when competing with large publishers. Assess your budget and calculate ROI to determine if spending money in the Facebook department is something you can afford.
Review Your Analytics, and Adapt
One of the best tools in playing the social media marketing game is information. Constantly check your analytics for your content on all of your social media platforms. Analyze what is working, and what isn’t. Use this information to constantly improve your reach–if you notice a problem area where reach is low, decide whether you will find a way to improve or if you will cut your losses and allocate resources to areas which are performing better.
Content is King
The most important thing you should be doing is to remember that content is king. Quality content is the base of what will drive organic traffic to your brand. Facebook specifically stated that the new algorithm will focus on promoting “high quality’ content, and avoiding viral content, so adapt! Play Facebook’s game to spin it in your favor.Make sure that you are turning out high-quality stories, and veer away from the viral type content which will be pushed to the side.
It has been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. In today’s modern age of social media, the same concept applies to a Tweet–even though this Twitter trademark can only be composed of up to 140 characters.
If the words “Tweet” and “Twitter” sound like child’s gibberish to you, then it is very possible you have been living out in the woods with no access to technology for the past 7 or so years. Twitter is a social media platform founded in 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams (no relation to the whiskey). Twitter allows people to connect and share thoughts and ideas, in posts called “Tweets” which consist of up to 140 characters. Twitter is one of the fastest growing social media platforms around, with over 230 million users, Tweeting over 500 million times a day in more than 35 languages.
In fact, Twitter is now used not only by the general public, but also by advertisers, businesses, celebrities, and even the news! Because Twitter functions as a real-time conversation platform where people can instantly comment and share their thoughts on events around the world, looking back at trending Tweets is a great way to gauge popular world events and people’s reactions to them. Let’s take a look at the top 10 Tweets of the past 4 years.
Twitter has become such a prevalent part of today’s media that even the President of the United States has his own Twitter account. With over 500,000 retweets, President Barack Obama won the Golden Tweet Award of 2012 with his simple “Four more years” Tweet, announcing his victory in his re-election.
2. Wendy’s – 2011 – 220,000 Re-Tweets
RT for a good cause. Each retweet sends 50¢ to help kids in foster care. #TreatItFwd
Corporations have begun to turn to Twitter to promote their businesses, advertise, announce deals and events, and much more. Wendy’s took things a step further, announcing via Twitter that they would donate 50 cents per each retweet towards children in foster care. The result was impressive, with over $50,000 donated, and one of the most popular tweets to date.
3. Stephen Colbert – 2010 – 41,000 Re-Tweets
in honor of oil-soaked birds, 'tweets' are now 'gurgles. http://bit.ly/cIhZNf
The younger generation these days has an interesting trend when it comes to where they receive their news. Rather than reading the news paper or watching CNN, young adults of today turn to online outlets and “spoof” news media shows such as The Colbert Report for their updates on world events. Stephen Colbert of The Colbert Report gives us evidence of these, when his tweet regarding the tragic oil spill in the Gulf was retweeted thousands of times, earning him the first ever Golden Tweet Award.
Celebrities are often among the most followed and retweeted on Twitter, and pop sensation Justin Bieber is no exception. Fans have watched this artist grow from a Youtube sensation to selling out multiple live performances at Madison Square Garden in just a few short years. Bieber made it on to this list with his heartwarming Tweet mourning the death of a fan with terminal cancer, Avalanna.
5. TJ Lang – 2012 – 98,000 Re-Tweets
Fuck it NFL.. Fine me and use the money to pay the regular refs.
Every football fan will recall the infamous 2012 match between the Seattle Seahawks and Green Bay Packers, where a hotly disputed call by a replacement referee caused an uproar and controversy among NFL fans. The NFL was currently dealing with the professional referees being on strike, which made many fans contend the “unofficial” referee’s game changing call. TJ Lang was not alone when he Tweeted about this event. He was joined by millions of Twitter accounts around the world.
6. Kim Kardashian – 2011 – 68,000 Re-Tweets
A 15 year old girl who is terminal w/ cancer has made a bucket list. 1 of her wishes is to trend on Twitter. Give a RT #alicebucketlist
In 2011, Kim Kardashian showed us another way that Twitter can touch the lives of millions, by reaching out to fans to help a girl with cancer reach a goal on her bucket ist.
7. Floyd Mayweather – 2012 – 90,000 Re-Tweets
Manny Pacquiao I'm calling you out let's fight May 5th and give the world what they want to see.
In January of 2012, boxing fans will recall championship boxer Floyd Mayweather challenging fellow boxer Manny Pacquiao to a match over twitter. Fans of both boxers went wild with over 90,000 retweets and 50,000 favorites.
8. Lea Michele – 2013 – 44,000 Re-Tweets
In July of 2013, actress Lea Michele of the popular TV show Glee reached out to her fans, thanking them for their support after the death of a fellow cast member, showing how Twitter can bring together a community spread across the world.
9. Team GB – 2012 – 67,000 Re-Tweets
29 gold, 17 silver, 19 bronze – We finished 3rd in medal table after most successful Olympics for 104 years #OurGreatestTeam RT your support
In August of 2012, fans of Great Britain around the world were able to share in celebrations after one of the best performances at the Summer Olympics the country has seen in decades.
10. Taylor Swift – 2011 – 25,000
Popular country singer and pop idol Taylor Swift shared in the celebration of her 22nd birthday with fans from around the world via Twitter in a Tweet which poked fun at her hit single 22, saying “I’m so 22 right now.
As we can see, Twitter has become much more than just a social networking platform. It is a tool which individuals and companies alike can use to spread and share their ideas. It is a way for people to connect instantaneously and share their thoughts with followers on the other side of the globe.
