After Facebook adjusted its algorithms late November 2013, fan pages have been suffering traffic-wise. In fact, a study by Ignite said that the Facebook fan page traffic decreased by an average of 44%. Their study consisted of over 689 brands. In fact, brand reach is at 3%, and not the former 16% that Facebook boasted. In fact, brands are saying that Facebook is screwing their fan page presence.
I decided to try this out and compare to a previous ad that I did about 6 months ago. The article for both ads, prior to advertising them performed well.
The advertisement was a promoted post, and was for my Website Audit service. In fact, below is the screenshot of the promoted post.
I paid $20. 22,567 saw the post. The post received 182 post likes, 1523 fan page likes, 2 immediate sales during the run of the ad, and 8 more within 2 weeks. I felt this was really a big success as I’ve run ads in the past that I’ve had to experiment with.
The same advertisement, at the same price in the first week of December 2013 produced:
- 7551 saw the post
- 78 post likes
- 45 fan page likes
- No sales
I’ve even run a straight fan page promotion and the results were just as staggering. I’ve experimented with other types of ads, like a promoted post to a public service announcement. The amount of likes to the post and page were worlds apart in numbers.
So, it’s a struggle for businesses get a better way to reach others, and social media marketers are looking for new ways. However, this change may have cut off a lot of people. If you want to reach more people, looks like you’re going to have to spend a lot more money. For bootstrapping businesses, that might be a problem, even for those wanting to target in local areas.
My take- Facebook really did get greedy and small businesses are going to feel that squeeze. I already had a problem with them before when they apparently rejected an advertisement in the past and STILL charged me. I reported this and heard nothing back from Facebook.
What are your thoughts on Facebook’s recent changes? Is your fan page reflecting a decline in traffic? If not, what did you do to get your fan page to stay afloat?
Hi Nile,
I’ve not used Facebook ads yet so can’t tell how it changed after the algorithm change, but even for normal posts, I feel the reach is greatly reduced. It appears they are more about squeezing money out.
Facebook has already been giant and can we get any alternatives? I guess Google+ won’t be much different any time soon.
Hi Nile,
It’s sad the way Facebook is treating their customers. You pay for advertising and you can’t even get results compared to what we were getting months ago.
I noticed that even some of the Facebook “experts” are turning to alternatives like Instagram and Pinterest to get their message out.
I stopped using Facebook ads around 3 months ago when I saw the numbers going down. I spend less effort on promoting my page now because my expectations are very low.
Facebook has indeed proved to be less useful, Ms Illeane. These days, results from the once booming network are indeed scanty. But guess what? We’ll simply ignore them and face other viable alternatives.
Always,
Terungwa
I wonder how much of that decline is attributable to the algorithm change versus an overall decline of use of facebook. I know I log in to facebook less and less frequently and when I do it seems like fewer and fewer people are posting anything. Even the number of people posting pictures of their kids seems on the decline.
In fact, I have faced the same problem. The fan page traffic and likes has reduced a lot now a days.
Don’t know what Facebook is doing but they are surely ruining our Facebook pages and our hard work.Page Reach has reduced by more than 50% and this is causing hell lot of trouble.
Indeed you are right i am thinking how much decline Facebook gonna bear as the use of Facebook is also getting very low. With that much less audience no one prefer to use Facebook ads.
Hello Nile! I knew that something was up with FB but I really didn’t know what! I have been keeping my eye on Kim as she is usually the one to let us know what is going on. These are some pretty significant numbers that you have shown us here, so do you have a back up plan? G+ LinkedIn? I am curious.. Thanks for sharing.. Chery :))
Nile,
this is interesting to be aware if advertising on facebook… I do not do any advertising so does not affect me at all.
I was interested to see your two different times ads and wow, what a difference in numbers and especially in sales…
I heard about big companies as FB quizzing out the small business person out of the big league.. I wonder is there is different prices of advertising and if the big money ads bring better results.
Thanks for keeping us on the loop.
_nickc
I think you are very much correct. Day by day the number of facebok users are declining. This declination is increasing day by day due to some other mobile social apps. Thanks mam for sharing this information with us. Looking forward for more article like this.
This is true..Facebook’s paid publishing is declining..
hi nile, nice attempt to bring out the problems done by FB
It’s sad the way Facebook is treating their customers. I do not do any advertising so does not affect me at all.Facebook is screwing their fan page presence. They should not do that
thank you very much for sharing this valuable information with us you are right that these days facebook user are declining. keep posting like this
Hi Nile, thanks for the great post. It’s really disheartening to hear that Facebook ads aren’t as good as they once were. It was something that I was considering using to promote my blog in the near future. Does anyone still recommend using Facebook ads? What are some good alternatives? Thanks.
Thnks for this article & facebook has just gone unusefull & of no use for promotion.
Facebook marketing is important but at the present time there are a lot of fake user id are going to hamaring the marketing.
Thanks.
hey guys i just wanna ask one thing that Is facebook relevant for gaining good traffic??
Past 1 to 2 years many people advertising at Facebook but with changing Algorithm it created a huge impact in advertising. Now most of PPC people moving towards Google or other Advertising search engines.
Hey Nile
Really great information. I read your specific article very carefully and learn some new facts about facebook fan page traffics issue. Its great
Regards
Dhiraj
Hello Nile
It is not about that, but posting a good quality content is most prominent in facebook pages. Now a days Meme as working so good. Try this you will get an good sales.
That is certainly correct, but the stats don’t lie… everyone’s fan pages have been hurt and you have to post more often to drive in that number.
This decline in traffic is because Facebook is bending more towards generating traffic by displaying sponsored content, than showing posts by pages. Don’t know why people still use it.
It’s unfortunate as it’s alienated a lot of small businesses and even individuals too.
I don’t like facebook ads but for cpm ads they are great because of low cpm rates and high CTR, Adwords is also great for cpm but not much targeted like facebook.
Hi Nile
It is very bad to Facebook is treating their customers. You pay for advertising and you can’t get results compared to what we were getting months ago.
I have not used Facebook paid ads yet so can’t tell anything, but even for normal posts, I feel the reach is greatly reduced. I also use facebook for normal share.
A very good post. I am still surprised that people use Facebook, since it now forces pages to rely too much on sponsored ads over ensuring good content is posted on the page…
Nice article recently many people were depended on facebook for traffic now that not applicable
I have also faced the same problem. The traffic and likes of fan page has reduced now a days.
Hiya Nile, Now days, I am facing a strange problem with my Facebook fan pages, Page reach has reduced significantly and causing hell lot of trouble, may be the decline of traffic is because Facebook is focusing more towards generating traffic by displaying sponsored content, What you say..
WoW … now that is a blog really worth watching and enjoying … an eample of a good blog … nice …
Rather than relying on FB for traffic, we must also take care of other sources of traffic.
oh! really but i am also using some facebook fan pages but i am not get anything these kind of issues. i think i need to check my fan pages again.
These days, results from the once booming network are indeed scanty. But guess what? We’ll simply ignore them and face other viable alternatives.
We had felt the squeeze as well. It is interesting to see the numbers. The impact ads have are not even close to as valuable. At that reach you are probably better served throwing dollars at adwords or perhaps giving twitter ads a shot.
Just leave Facebook, Promote with Google Plus is much better for traffic these days.
How many genuine likes will you get on Facebook, most of the fake Accounts on FB.
I leave FB and get good traffic with Google+.
I visit a lot of sites in daily.but i like your site.because the content of your site is looking nice
Let’s just say I’m glad I saw this post before I dove into my Facebook project. It’s still something I want to use eventually, but it looks like other areas should take priority, such as building a list and blog audience. Thank you for the excellent info 🙂
Such a helpful post, thank you Nile. I was facing the same problem, but with your help it is solved.
Soooo excellent! Thanks for the great post. I couldn’t have done it better myself – and I guess that means you’ll stay in the number 1 spot on this topic for a while 🙂