Have you ever updated your Facebook profile with the latest, mind-blowing greatness and wonder why the post received no likes, comments or any feedback from friends? Unless the update was über lame, (which may or may not be the case) getting your content seen in front of all of your page’s Facebook fans is much harder than just clicking submit.

Although it may seem that after liking your page friends will receive all the content you publish all the time, in actuality, Facebook has its own formula to decide what content is most relevant and newsworthy to display in each user’s News Feed. This algorithm determines where and when updates are seen.


Facebook News Feeds are divided into two sections – Top News and Most Recent News. Upon logging into Facebook (unless via mobile application), users are automatically directed to their Top News feed by default settings. Top News represents the top 300 posts from friends or liked brand pages that Facebook determines are most relevant to the user. Because 95 percent of users don’t bother to view all the Most Recent posts from friends and read only their Top News version instead, you might have to play a little News Feed Optimization (NFO) to get your message out to your fans and into their exclusive Top News sections.

What shows up in your Top News feed?

Facebook uses an algorithm, much like one Google uses for its search engine, to determine what updates from friends are really newsworthy to you. This formula, or EdgeRank, defines what content will show up in your Top News feed based off three components.

  1. Affinity: The amount you have engaged with particular content from the creator. Scores for this section will be higher between people who routinely share content.
  2. Weight: As a post receives comments or likes from other Facebook users added to their original update (status, photo, links, etc.), its weight increases.
  3. Time: Based on how long ago the post was created in relation to the affinity and weight scores. The longer people comment on a post, the longer it remains in the News Feed.

How Do Brands Stay Top News? – Optimize!

To remain a member of the exclusive Top News club in fans’ timelines, a brand must do more than throw content on the wall and hope it will stick. It’s all about implementing an NFO strategy!  Here are some tips given by Mari Smith during a Social Media Success Summit 2011 session to use when getting your optimize on to increase your Page’s interaction from friends or fans!

1. Vary content – Facebook holds certain types of content higher, or more important, than others thus affecting where and how long they appear in your News Feed. From greatest to least:

  • Photos
  • Video
  • Links
  • Status Updates
  • Questions
  • Apps

2. Keep it simple – Keeping Facebook updates fewer than 80 characters increases engagement levels by 27 percent.
3. Use long URLs – If possible, avoid using link shorteners. Posts containing links using long URLs showed three times higher engagement rates. Why? It’s a trust factor. People like to know exactly what they are clicking on and where it will lead.


4. Post during high traffic windows – Post between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. EST for highest engagement. Also, posts made on Thursday and Friday show an 18-percent higher engagement rate.
5. Don’t overlook “off hours” – Only 35 percent of Facebook users log in during the workday, and only five percent of brand pages post content on Sunday. That sounds like a golden opportunity waiting to happen.
6. Post content frequently – Company pages with between 500-1000 fans should post two or three times per day. Bigger brands, who naturally have high engagement, should stick to posting every other day.
7. Don’t auto-link content – Content auto-linked to Facebook through third-party applications are weighted as less important than posting the content directly through Facebook. Often these posts are collapsed in the News Feed and unseen by friends or fans.

 


8. Use calls to action in your posts – Encourage your fans to like, comment or share your content to increase the weight.

Take these small steps, and you’re sure to see improvements on your Facebook Insights in no time! While you’re at it, feel free to share the love with M/C/C on Facebook!