You may not have known that Facebook has an algorithm designed to rank and determine if, and where, your Facebook posts will appear. Much like Google uses an algorithm designed to determine how websites are ranked and displayed in natural search results.
Facebook calls their algorithm "EdgeRank". Pages with high EdgeRank Scores are more likely to show up in the news feed, than Pages with low EdgeRank Scores. One of the variables that the algorithm uses is where the post comes from. For example posts from third party applications like Hootsuite are (were) given a lower priority.
AFFINITY X WEIGHT X TIME DECAY = EDGE RANK
EdgeRank is made up of 3 variables: Affinity, Weight, and Time Decay. Affinity is dependent on a user’s relationship with an object in the news feed. Weight is determined by the type of object, such as a photo/video/link/etc. The last variable is Time Decay, as an object gets older, the lower the value.
So today was big news when Facebook announced in their developer forum that they have adjusted their newsfeed to give equal visibility to all posts coming from third party applications e.g. Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, Involver, Wildfire, etc.
In our workshops we have been encouraging everyone to post updates directly within Facebook versus using 3rd party apps like Hootsuite, which negates some of the value of having the app. So this is good news for you.
If Facebook is part of your social media strategy you’ll want to know exactly what your EdgeRank score is and how to improve it. You could be spending time generating content for your Facebook page this is NOT being seen by fans of your Page.
Contact us for a free 30 minute phone consultation to find out how your content ranks on Facebook.
