For the last few years people on facebook have been trying to up their friend count. The more hands you shake, the more money you make. This applies on facebook too. The more friends you connect, the bigger your paycheck. I’ve been preaching that facebook is the best and most interactive list a marketer can have, if you know what you are doing.
Lately there have been studies released on the number of human relationships that are possible for one person to maintain. Most studies point to the number 45. According to experts we can only maintain personal relationships with 45 other humans. Facebook has taken these studies into consideration when it comes to their newsfeed. Since the inception of EdgeRank, facebook has tried to help us make the most of our social media time online.
One of the ways facebook is improving is by limiting the number of people’s posts you see in your newsfeed on a daily basis. They try to present the user (us) with only the most relevant posts to our tastes. Facebook checks all of your information and even tracks the words you use in your private messages to help make the most of your time with them. Google does the same thing… This insures that you only get interaction from people who want to interact with you and vice versa. This is why you notice the same people over and over commenting and liking your posts. They probably feel the same way about you 😉
So in order to effectively work your sphere and grow a business on facebook you must use material that does at least one of two things.
Thing #1: You need posts and content that grabs attention and engages people. The best posts are ones with more comments than likes. This is usually a sign of a great post. When people feel more compelled to tell you their opinion or can’t resist chiming in, your EdgeRank and visibility rise. This means more people can see that you exist. If your posts are not the talk of your circle, you will be irrelevant before long.
Thing #2: If you can’t engage the masses, you need to be extremely specific. if you don’t have a big number of friends on facebook, make the most of the ones you have. I have around 3,500 friends and honestly, I only interact with about 50 of them. That may leave me with a lot of un-attended friends, but it also allows me to connect in a big way with a smaller amount of people. This allows us to build a better online bond with each other.
You see, in the past we were all worried about how many friends we had and how fast we can grow our subscriber list. These days with Facebook’s new algorithm and their technology getting smarter and smarter every day, IT’S NO LONGER ABOUT HOW MANY FRIENDS YOU HAVE, IT’S ABOUT THE AMOUNT OF COMMENTS, LIKES AND SHARES YOUR POSTS GET.
The real numbers you should concern yourself with are the engagement numbers. How many people actually took action and interacted with you/your post. EdgeRank is not about how many friends you have, it’s about how many people actually “talk” to you on a daily basis. You can have 40,000 followers and friends online but if you only get 3 likes and no comments on a post, you can bet no more than 100 of those people see your post.
Matter of fact, facebook is shying away from people and pages with large numbers. (I have a conspiracy theory about this but we will save that for another time.) If you have a popular page or timeline, facebook figures people will go directly to your page for their information so they don’t put you in the newsfeed as often. If facebook knows your friends and followers are fake, you GET 0 JUICE!
Size does matter! But not the size of your friends list, the size of your comment and like lists on each post you make. The more comments, shares and likes your posts have the higher your EdgeRank will be and the more your exposure will grow. Focus on what you have and be sure to like their comments, and reply to their questions and stuff on your posts. If you want to have engaging friends, you have to be an engaging friend.
I know a few easy ways to game the whole EdgeRank system. Just like SEO for Google, there is SEO for facebook’s newsfeed. If you want to know how you can use my Syndicate Style to game the EdgeRank, fill out the short form below and let’s talk.
