Facebook Pages are dying. What now?

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“It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life.”
— Capt. Picard to Lt. Cmdr. Data

Some companies have put all their eggs in the Facebook basket. In 2o14, they may wish they had diversified their outreach more.

Whether your Facebook page has 10,000 fans or 100, you may have already found a greatly diminished reach for your efforts thanks to changes in the News Feed algorithm. The good news is it’s probably not your fault. The bad news is you’ll need a new strategy for your digital marketing.

One option is to pay Facebook to run ads and boost posts. This can be a great tactic for 2014 as brands back away from the channel because of reduced impact. Fewer advertisers could mean better rates and less competition.

Facebook makes it very easy to set up targeted ads and consequently, to spend hundreds and thousands of dollars on ineffective campaigns. (We can help you with your campaign creation and management.)

Another option is to train your fans to visit your page regularly or to at least pull up the comprehensive Pages Feed. (You should really click on Pages Feed to see what you’re missing from the pages you personally follow.)

Changing user behavior is difficult. It may require more resources than warranted given Facebook’s ever-changing ecosystem.

A third option is to create a Facebook Group. These forums can provide better interaction among peers and more flexibility in sharing info, photos, videos and even documents. One drawback is no Insights — but let’s be real: How many of you were checking your Facebook stats regularly? (We can help with setting up Groups and training your moderators.)

A fourth option is to build an audience in another channel. That could be on your blog, in your email newsletter, on Google+ or many other media. (We can help you understand your audience’s demographics and find a better way to interact with them.)

The digital landscape is always evolving rapidly, sometimes in ways no one can predict. Your strategy must be flexible and have meaningful statistics to guide you.

This year will be a harsh reminder that while Facebook Pages are still free, using them as the sole channel comes at a high cost in the end.

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