Guest post by Gray Blue, founder of Lumberjack Marketing
Many have started petitions in an attempt to get the multi-billion dollar social corporation to change their current EdgeRank policies, particularly as it relates to how posts from a brand or business show up for fans (users). The biggest complaint seems to be along the lines of, “I’m not going to pay for something I’ve once used for free”. Yes you are. Accept it.
Whether it’s in time or money, you’re going to pay. If you want a social platform – ANY social platform – to work for you, you’re going to have to put something in to it. The biggest issues here is that the vast majority of pages creating these posts have been approaching their business on Facebook all wrong, without strategy or forethought. All that is seen now is, “Well my reach number went down, and now they’re asking me for money!”
And then there’s the threat of exodus; that somehow if I have my business jump ship to another platform, this will solve everything. Not the case folks. Nothing replicates the possibility for reach as Facebook does.
There are a couple of other points here that you need to be aware of:
1. At any given point in time, on almost any platform, there’s only a limited portion of your followers that will see your content. This is the nature of social media. There’s a lot of noise out there, and if you want to be seen/heard, YOU are going to have to cut through it. You can’t expect to be placed on a silver platter in front of your users – unless you want to buy the platter.
2. Interest lists (on Facebook) don’t work. Just stop it. You’re trying to get your fans to add you to an interest list, which most have no idea what that even is, and then somehow get back to that interest list to see your posts? Think about that as a user, not a page owner. Are YOU using interest lists? Doubt it.
3. Every social media platform is a business – just like you. You need your business to make money, and so do they. And every platform is either rolling out their plan to get you to pay to use their service, or figuring out what it is - and it will happen.
4. Iteration and the lack of perfection: online platforms and business “ship” regularly. Shipping means rolling out new features or ideas. This happens on regular timeframes, typically once a week or once every two weeks. Two statements best exemplify the nature of digital shipping. The first, from Facebook: “Done is better than perfect” and second, from the new Digg: “Fuck it, ship it” – EVERYTHING online is a test, an experiment – the consumer internet, in the 15-ish years has grown in ways that no one ever saw coming, and what works and does not work changes every single day. But behind all of that is a need to TEST. Developers, and the businesses around them thrive on data, and no idea is dead until the data say that it is. So yeah, this may not be perfect –but it’s what is going to happen right now, and you’re using the service for free - you’re along for the ride, period.
This brings us back to the point I raised earlier – one way or another, you’re going to pay, either in time or in money. Good content strategy, and engagement-driven content on ANY platform, is going to give you organic growth, and change how people use your content online – to the benefit of your business. And it takes some time.
So, as you look at the social platforms you use, and how you use them, and what things cost, you must consider this question: How are you investing in your business – in money, or in time (or both)?
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Gray Blue is the founder of Lumberjack Marketing. Follow him on Twitter: @GrayBlue
