Why Facebook Likes Don't Matter Anymore

The numbers are in and your organic reach on Facebook has fallen off a cliff. In April of 2012, pages reached up to 16% of their audience organically, but today that number has dropped to 1-2% and will continue to drop.

It's not a secret, or something Facebook is even trying to hide. Facebook is actually saying that you should assume a day will come when the organic reach is zero. The free ride is over.

When "Likes" Matter Less - What Matters More?

We've exhausted so much effort and budget into building a powerful following on Facebook that we've lost sight of what that following actually represents. Is it a collection of evangelists following you because they admire your brand and content and have chosen to be a part of your following? Or is it a simple "Like" or "Follow" that was the result of a social media campaign you stirred up over Christmas break to double your fan base.

The truth is that until now the difference didn't really matter much. You were able to reach that audience with your content regardless of their initial intention. This ride comes to a close as Facebook continues to grow creating increased competition battling over the same amount of news feed space. Ultimately, this means that if we want to reach our "fan base" even those who "like" us, the reach must come in the form of paid versus organic.

3 Ways to Get Value out of Facebook Ads

If you're reading this shocked at the news that organic reach is declining, you're already behind the game. But, before you go and double your Facebook ad spend consider these three ways to get more value out of the Facebook marketing channel:

1. Leverage User Generated Content

User-Generated Content has never been more impactful and plentiful.

Oh, and did I mention it's free? An article posted last month on Mashable reveals millennials trust user-generated content a whopping 50 percent more than other media! You're more likely to comment or share a picture your neighbor posted than a photoshopped corporate one, right? Find content that your fans are already creating for you and share it! Your fans will feel like rockstars and you suddenly have an unlimited stream of trusted content to share.

2) Your true brand loyalists, still have great reach.

Among the 20,000 that follow your page, find the 200 that truly mean it. Ask them to share your stories, tell their friends about their experiences and reward them for doing so. You'll not only create customers for life, but your reach will be far greater if you invest in those that invest in you. Shift your dollars, build your brand.

3) When you pay to play, make it count!

When you're going to the spend dollars, and I suggest you still do, make them impactful. We know that consumers expectations have changed. In order to get the attention of a millennial your message must be:

• Local: Invite me to the coffee shop around the corner from my office.
• Authentic: Add a great photo taken by a customer at that very location.
• Relevant: Make sure I like coffee.

Sound hard? At MomentFeed we give brands the ability to send this type of targeted messaging and promote it, to every social outlet, across all local pages via one single platform. The result is locally relevant messaging, made scalable.

We're coming to an era where less is more. Where you're forced to meet the growing expectations of consumers and where our marketing mind has to shift from making noise and buying "likes" to making connections building love.