For years, companies and brands have taken advantage of the zero-cost, high-reach method of Facebook advertising. Facebook Ads have technically been an option for marketers since April 2008, but the purchase of ads were not necessary for reaching your audience. Not every Fan of your Page was seeing your content, but enough were to still be effective. As we delve further into 2014, however, this seems to be changing. We all knew it was coming, but are we really ready for what TIME refers to as the “Free-Marketing Gravy Train” to be over on Facebook?
According to the recent TIMES article on the world’s dominating social media platform, Facebook has been reducing the amount of organic reach of Pages – and not by a small margin. A recent study by Ogilvy of more than 100 brand Pages found that companies’ posts dropped from reaching 12% in October to just 6% by February. While rumors are swirling that Facebook is planning to drop reach all the way down to 1% or 2%, the company will only admit that indeed organic reach is declining, while keeping mum on any specific numbers. Want to keep your levels of reach? No problem. You’re just going to have to pay for it.
With 1.23 billion monthly users on Facebook, companies and brands recognize that the advertising platform can’t be ignored. The addition of paying for reach may challenge small organizations or individuals who have built their pages over the years, however, daily organic posting shouldn’t be ruled out. Users have come to expect finding the most up-to-date information from a brand’s Facebook Page, and if you’re content is engaging, it will still spread. Brilliant marketing will prevail through word-of-mouth virility, while others may just have to pay to get there. Many are at an outrage regarding the recent change, but advertising has never been free, and people shouldn’t really expect any different from Facebook.