Of late, there has been growing discussion and debate within the social space by brands and their social media agencies in response to the recent tightening of the Facebook EdgeRank algorithm. Whilst there has been a fair degree of discontent, primarily concerned with the perceived unfairness of having genuinely recruited fans and followers and then being omitted from the conversation, the broader picture that brands need to consider can be simplified to whether they are looking to use Facebook as a platform to have genuine conversation with their users or simply as a more glorified advertising channel.
Facebook's argument for the introduction of EdgeRank eighteen months ago was a simple one; the algorithm will ensure that users are only served content that is relevant to them, determined by weighting, affinity and time. In short, if users interacted regularly with brand/page content, then they would continue to be served content from that page. If they did not, then the algorithm would gradually reduce the amount of content served. The challenge to brand pages was clear: be relevant and inspire interaction to maintain the maximum audience.
Whilst the impact of the EdgeRank algorithm meant all brand pages suffered reductions in reach to a greater or lesser degree, EdgeRank in effect offered two paths to redemption; brands could invest in paid advertising or promoted posts to grow and maintain access to a significant audience irrespective of EdgeRank, or they could invest in the quality of organic content to make sure it was as relevant, inspiring and engaging as possible to genuinely interact with users.
A cynic might suggest (as many have on social forums), that Facebook is in a strong position regardless of the route chosen by brands and pages. If they take option one and invest in paid advertising, they fill Facebook's pockets with gold; if they take option two and optimise content to ensure maximum relevancy to users, they make the overall platform significantly more user-centric.
Now, with the tightening of the EdgeRank algorithm, the choice brands face is even more stark. It is likely that this will result in a considerable increase in those that choose to advertise; having invested a number of years in building follower bases ranking in their millions, it is a bitter pill to have overall reach reduced to thousands.
However, it is as important from Facebook's perspective (as well as brand pages themselves) that the balance between taking the paid media route and pursuing the organic, content relevancy approach does not swing too far in favour of the former. Whilst a number of brands/pages may simply be using Facebook as a glorified advertising channel, put off by the continuing challenges to organic engagement caused by increasingly tight algorithms, it is important that the identity of brand pages on Facebook does not simply reflect this, otherwise users will switch off in droves.
Fortunately, there are a number of brand pages out there that take genuine user engagement seriously, invest in the more long-term strategy of ensuring content is relevant to their audiences and use paid media as a support rather than lead strategy.
Philip Keightley is a senior account director at digital PR agency Punch Communications, which specialises in social search.