Many platforms that have been 100% free for years and years are now turning into ad-driven platforms. This means that they are changing the algorithm that determines what pops up in any users’ newsfeeds.
Facebook for Business, Public Figure and Fan pages have seen dramatic drops in organic reach. Organic reach is how many people see your page’s posts in their newsfeed when they log on. Over the past year or so, reach dropped to about 25% of your audience (1/4 of your total likers may have seen your posts) to about 11%, to about 6%, and is now reportedly around 3%.
Facebook has admitted that its goal is to end up with pages getting ZERO organic reach, meaning anybody who wants their business to show up on peoples’ newsfeeds will have to pay for it.
So the Big Question...If Facebook is Doing Badly for Businesses, Why Does Everybody Still Use it?
Well, think about it…SO many businesses used Facebook for business as free advertising, not as social media was actually intended to be used. Individuals are seeing fewer and fewer posts in their feeds from companies…The ones they do see are often paid ads and very obvious therefor easy to ignore…and they’re seeing more from their friends and family where those fan page posts used to be. Win-Win for the individual, lose-lose for the business page that doesn't have an enormous advertising budget.
If Reach is Down, isn't Facebook for Business a Waste of Time?
NO (Not yet)! People still by and large use Facebook as a vetting system, a rating tool, and a picture gallery. This will most likely change with time, but for now, while people are still largely using Facebook, it is important to keep a nice presence there. You might want to invest less time into your Facebook for business content creation posts, and more time into other platforms. That being said however, you shouldn't let your company Facebook page become a ghost town. It just doesn't look good!
Will my Audience Follow Me to Other Platforms?
Maybe, or maybe not…Either way, you can always build a new audience! I have found that my clients’ views on Twitter and on Google + skyrocket past Facebook views. Neither of the former platforms seem to get quite as much interaction as Facebook, but the number of people exposed to posts to those platforms seriously exceeds the number of people reached by the posts to Facebook.
Will Facebook Die Out the Way Myspace Did?
Most likely, in time. Businesses, especially small businesses and professionals that have used it as a marketing tool are largely concentrating their SM efforts elsewhere. As Facebook becomes more and more flooded with paid ads and PPC (pay-per-click) baiting and its ridiculous unnecessary features, individuals will most likely go elsewhere too. My personal take is that right now, more individuals are using Twitter, but over the next 6 months-1 year, I think Google Plus will see a swift and steady gain in popularity. At some point, most people will probably start to let go of Facebook. NOT NOW though. You may want to focus your content creation on other platforms and share to Facebook more than you rack your brain for Facebook content, but for the time being I feel it’s still important to maintain a solid presence on Facebook. As of now, Facebook for business is now a pay to play platform.