How do you decide what and when to post on your company’s Facebook page? Do you put careful thought into each post? Are you receiving optimal engagement? Well, there are mathematical ways to get your posts in front of your fans, in their newsfeed. Getting your posts in their newsfeed is ideal because 95% of fan engagement happens in the newsfeed rather than on your company’s page.
Appearing in your fan’s newsfeed has to do with the EdgeRank Algorithm. EdgeRank is a system developed by Facebook that decides which posts are displayed (and how high) on a person’s newsfeed. There are three factors that go into an EdgeRank: affinity score between the viewing user and the edge creator, weight for the edge type (comment, like, tag, etc.) and a time “decay” factor based on how long ago the edge was created (see image below). What is an “edge”? An edge is really anything that “happens” on Facebook. This could be anything from status updates, likes, comments and shares. This doesn’t sound too complicated, right? Well, there’s a little more to the story.
EdgeRank does a series of mathematical calculations in order to decide which posts should be displayed, and how high on a fan’s newsfeed. For example, if a fan has recently commented on your post, that will get a higher ranking than just a “like”.
Why is understanding EdgeRank important?
If your EdgeRank is low, it means that your posts are being seen by fewer people. The total exposure can increase by five times as many people seeing your posts when your post has a high EdgeRank. Luckily, EdgeRank is calculated per object, per day, with the average fan. This means that if your EdgeRank is low today, not to worry; you can increase it and appear on your fan’s newsfeed tomorrow.
How can you make this work for your business? First, determine what content gets the most interest. Maybe your picture posts get the most comments. Or, is it your thought-provoking articles? When you find out what works for you, give your fans more of what they respond to best. Another factor to consider is when your fans engage with your content the most. Plan to post content when your fans have maximum engagement.
Are you curious about your current EdgeRank? Find it out here: http://edgerankchecker.com/.
