Only about 17% of your Fans see your Facebook Page posts…
That angers me a little.
I can't help it. The fact that I can post to my Facebook page and have that message show up in only 17% of my Fans news stream is angering.
Damn you EdgeRank!
OK… Complaining about Facebook algorithms is akin to hollering at the Moon, so I will stop.
What does a good Blogger do when faced with social network algorithm issues?
That's right, a good blogger figures out how to best work the system for maximum exposure.
If you're asking yourself, “What is EdgeRank?” Edgerank is one of the ways that Facebook decides which posts to include in a user's news feed. The equation is very simple:
Affinity + Weight + Time Decay = EdgeRank
You can read more at EdgeRank Checker. (the image below is from Edge Rank Checker Blog.)
The Facebook Button
So we all have ways to share our content to Facebook (If you don't that's a MUST DO right now!) in the form of a button placed somewhere on your blog.
Some people place their social media buttons at the beginning of the post, others at the end and others yet, at both the beginning and end.
I use a social media plugin called Socialize which places social media buttons at the top of each blog post and then creates a Feature Box at the end of each post with additional social media buttons (Check out my post on stupid ebook publishing mistakes as an example).
The point is I don't care where you put your social media buttons, but you need to have them and a Facebook button is a MUST.
So now the question is… Which Facebook button should we use to increase post exposure?
Share Button vs Like Button
Tying our initial problem (only 17% of our Fans see our posts) to our question (Which Facebook button should we use to increase post exposure) we're left with a decision…
Should we encourage our blog visitors to use the Facebook Share Button or Like Button?
For those that don't know the Share Button looks like this:
And this is what the Like Button looks like:
I encourage to try both right now and see the difference in how they share content on Facebook.
Why I will always use the Share Button
There are two reasons why I will always use the Share Button and not the more common Like Button:
- The Share Button attaches an Affinity score to the post shared and the Like Button does not.
- The Share Button carries a higher Weight score to the post shared than the Like Button.
Maybe these two items don't seem like a big deal.
You're saying, really Ryan, those are the two reasons that you use the Share Button over the Like Button?
And my response would be ABSOLUTELY YES!
For anyone that been blogging for more than three months knows every little thing counts when it comes to getting your content found Online!
The difference between Share Button and Like Button may seem small but if that small difference gets your content in front of more readers than it's worth it… No doubt.
BONUS VIDEO: HOW TO ADD A LINK TO YOUR FACEBOOK PAGE BACK TO YOUR BLOG
The Rub
Last time I wrote a Guest Post for Ms. Ileane I discussed the Zombie Apocalypse and your Newsletter Subscribers.
What I don't want to see is your Facebook Posts getting lost in post apocalyptic EdgeRank world as well…
Use the Share Button… Get in your Fans news feed more often!
Thank you,
Ryan H.