EdgeRank-ed?? 3 ways to get over it?

EdgeRankFacebook recently tweaked their EdgeRank algorithm, which now will lay more emphasis on post that have more engagement. This in effect will ensure that your post with either no or very low level on engagement is scored less. Fair enough!! Maybe not, that is what small business owner think and the reason behind it is, for bigger brands it’s easier to make promoted post which will effectively grab more eye balls and ensure more engagement. While many page administrators are seething with lower scores, I believe its an opportunity for them to reinvent the way they handle the pages. Read the post further on how you as page administrator or owner can ride over it…

First let us understand…

What is EdgeRank

According to Wikipedia,

EdgeRank is the name of the algorithm of Facebook that determines the visibility of a post made by a user or a page within the newsfeed of friends or fans. The algorithm was first published April 21, 2010 during the event F8 in San Francisco

In a plain language, it’s the way you see stories appearing in your feeds. There are numerous updates happening on Facebook at any given time within the people you follow and EdgeRank determines in what order the stories should appear in your timeline.

To know how you can get over the recent tweaks, we need to understand how Facebook calculates EdgeRank. The formula they have shared is

∑  u * w * d

u = affinity score between viewing user and edge creator

w = weight of edge type

d = time decay (how long before was the edge created)

Simply put, each update is an object for Facebook, and every interaction on that object increased the edge. The interaction can be either a comment or a like or even a share. Even each object carries a different weightage and the order which has usually been observed is that photos/images carry the highest weightage, followed by links and then status updates.

So here’s lesson #1 for brands on how to get over the new EdgeRank tweaks? The aim for businesses is to have maximum engagement going for them.

1. Leverage Images

We just saw that Facebook EdgeRank put high weightage on post with images/photos. For your small business to succeed, make sure you create more images and share with your followers. Look at the success of Pinterest, we love all things visual. Put an image with a great call-to-action and get the readers to comment on it. It’s a sure shot way to increase your scores and get to the top in the newsfeeds

 2. Time Decay

The second way to stay on top of those news feeds is to post regularly. If you’re not sharing updates regularly, there’s no fodder for EdgeRank to keep you on top of those newsfeed. For Facebook, more eyeballs is more clicks and that gets them more dollars. So, if someone is not viewing your page, Facebook is losing the game & so there is no reason why it would want your updates on top.

Utilize the ‘Schedule Update’ feature on the Pages, you may also use third-party tools to schedule it, but the grapevine is that EdgeRank doesn’t consider third-party updates, so try sticking to updates via Facebook.

3. Personalization

Personalization is a way to tell the followers of the page that ‘You care about them’. Understand the follower sentiment to engage them in conversation. Research on the type, region of followers, know what ticks those  people and share specific updates. The other pattern you need to observe is the time when users are active too, don’t schedule your update at 2 AM in the night, that would have ‘Fail’ written all over it. Having an update, when the users are most active will enable you to get more eyeballs and greater chances of driving engagement.

Hope this 3 ways will help you generate more traction with the followers and get you higher on the EdgeRank. Personally, I believe that it was a great step by Facebook to lay more emphasis on engagement rather than the number of followers. This should spell a doom for pages which have fake followers and hardly any engagement.

Your Turn

As page administrator/owner have you also seen lower your score getting lower? What step are you taking to improve up the scores. Utilize the comments below and share your views.

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