Can’t Fight the Algorithm

By: Mandy Cummings, Account Coordinator

Clients of ours are often surprised to hear that their Facebook posts are (on average) reaching just about 16% of their total number of likes. That means that, for instance, when you posted about the awesome new promotion you were running last week to your 1,000 friends, just about 160 of them saw the post.

Facebook uses EdgeRank, an algorithm that determines what posts appear on each person’s news feed, to provide relevant and wanted content for users. But this is Facebook, not math class, so we’ll keep it simple. In the algorithm, there are three variables: affinity, weight, and time decay. Affinity measures the relationship between the person who posts and the viewers. The more interaction from your viewers the better. Different posts carry different amounts of weight. Photos and videos have the most weight, after that it’s posts with links, and then plain text updates. Plus, as a post gets older, it loses value. Man, if only algebra was this easy…

But the problem persists: Businesses are only reaching about 16% of their fans. This is where PR specialists come in. We may not be math professors, but we sure can solve algorithms! Benefits of hiring social media experts range from gaining a whole team of professionals to keeping a constant eye on the project. With the time and skills to create original content, evaluate its effect, and quickly change course if necessary, their focus is on successfully representing your business while generating a network of fans.

The WildRock team is proud to offer these services as a nimble, boutique agency. We are able to bring an “ear to the ground” mentality when following social media trends and create meaningful strategies and tactics for your business – give us a call to learn more.