I wrote recently about some comparisons I had drawn between different types of post on Facebook with a view to drawing conclusions about the most effective content types on Facebook.
Continuing on a similar theme I've been experimenting this week with two similar posts. One resulted in lots of Shares and Likes but only 1 Comment vs another with lots of Comments (and half the number of Likes and Shares).
Here are the post, they were both classified by Facebook identically (both were Photos - recently downgraded by Facebook in its new variant of the Edgerank algorithm) and both were posted at a similar time of day. The image on the right (with the highest Reach) was posted first. If anything its high success would have driven a higher organic audience for the subsequent post (on the left) yet this was rewarded with lower Reach. Why?
From this (albeit very limited experiment) and previous analysis, my conclusion is that Edgerank values Comments over Shares and Likes despite a competing Edge having significantly higher Virality.
The Virality issue alone causes me to question the logic of Edgerank which is designed to show people content they are most likely to want to see. Surely something that is highly viral should be rewarded with higher organic visibility?
And if you were in any doubt that photos are still in the doghouse in comparison to other content types, look at the reach this link/video post scored with significantly less engagement:
Are these observations you have made too? What do you think of the current algorithm?
By Marie Page
Marie Page @marie_page is one of the UK’s leading Facebook marketing experts. She is a founding partner of digital marketing consultancy The Digiterati and the Digiterati Academy, an e-learning portal for marketers and entrepreneurs. She recently published a book and online course “Winning at Facebook Marketing with Zero Budget”.
Turbocharge your results with this toolkit containing 12 resources
The Social Media Marketing toolkit contains:
Start your Digital Marketing Plan today with our Free membership.
Recommended Blog Posts
Our compilation of the latest social media statistics of consumer adoption and usage of social networking platforms Social networks have transformed marketing and, as this post shows, their popularity is still growing in our latest global social media statistics research …..
To make sure your social media campaign is as successful as possible, follow our 7 steps to plan and structure your campaign strategy If you have an upcoming marketing campaign for a new product feature, or a holiday promotion that …..
What do marketers need to know and do? Exciting times for marketers who enjoy following how digital platforms evolve… It feels like 2008, as I said in my first post on Threads… Since I’ll be talking about it, amongst other …..
