It's taken a lot of effort to get fans for your local business Facebook page. A few times a week, you make sure to log on and post a great update to your page — maybe you have a sale coming up, or a pool project you want to show off. Isn't it great that all of those fans you've worked so hard to acquire now get to see what you just posted? Too bad Facebook doesn't work that way!
There's good news and bad news when it comes to how many people see posts on your Facebook page. But there's also one little fact that will probably surprise you and change the way you think about Facebook posts.
OK, let's start with the bad news.
On average a Facebook post will reach about 16 percent of your fans.
Yep, that's right. Even though someone liked your page, they won't see every post that you make. Why? Facebook says that the average person would get over 1,500 posts per day from friends and pages they follow. Nobody can read that many posts, so Facebook uses a formula called EdgeRank to decide which posts are the most relevant and interesting to each person.
Of course, that 16 percent is your "organic reach" — the number of people that will see your post assuming that you don't pay Facebook to boost the reach of your post. How many Facebook fans you have also impacts your reach:
Less than 1,000 fans: 29.5 percent
1,000 to 10,000 fans : 16.4 percent
10,000 to 50,000 fans : 11.1 percent
50,000 to 100,000 fans: 9.1 percent
These numbers may seem tough to swallow, but no marketing channel will reach 100 percent of your customers 100 percent of the time.
Ready for some good news?
Most local businesses have less than 10,000 fans. That means your Facebook post probably reaches 16 to 25 percent of your fans. Interestingly, that's about the same percentage of people who open your emails when you send them.
MailChimp sends billions of emails each month for millions of businesses. According to their latest benchmark report, email open rates average around 20%. That means when you send an email to your subscribers, only 20 percent of them actually open and see your message.
A Facebook post reaches approximately the same percent of followers as an email.
With Facebook, as with email or any other social media site, recognize that not everyone is going to see your message. But your efforts are not in vain! Keep encouraging your customers to join your Facebook page. Then do what social media does best … build community and engage your customers with posts that are interesting to THEM.
Keep doing that and you can indeed build customer loyalty and grow your business with Facebook.
Want to learn more about online marketing? Download "Local SEO for Spa and Pool Professionals" for free!
Eric Shanfelt is the Founder and CEO of Local Marketing Institute. He has over 20 years of experience in digital marketing with multiple B2B and consumer media companies. Eric also has a passion for local businesses ... especially the local microbreweries in Northern Colorado where he lives.
