Chapter 10 – Get More Likes Comments and Shares With Newsfeed Optimization

EdgeRank: The Master Viral Post Formula

Facebook used to createdhave an algorithm, EdgeRank, that determines who will see your status updates from your fan page. They did away with that algorithm in late 2014, and while they have a new algorithm that they keep very secret, the basic premis to get your post shown to more people is this; The more Likes, Comments, and Shares your posts get, the greater the “Reach” – or how many people will see your posts.

Your status updates are not shown to all of the fans of your page each time you post to your page. Whenever you post on your page, you can see how many people saw it on the lower left of the post. (Note: only page administrators can see this.)

Facebook aims to show fans what is most relevant to them. Only Facebook insiders know exactly how EdgeRank their algorithms works, and since it that is what is used to rank status updates, the higher you rank, the more likely it is people will see your updates. When you receive a lot of Likes and Shares, you will have a higher EdgeRank, and more people will end up seeing your content. To expand your audience, you will need to have status updates that are relevant, recent, and engaging.

Relevant. Facebook tracks how many times fans click Like, Share, or Comment on status updates. Comscore, a consulting company, revealed that “each incremental day of fan page updates increases reach among fans by 2.5%.”

This percentage compounds over time, so each day you post, you will grow your base. Initially, this will be by a few fans per day. However, over time, your page will grow faster and faster.

Recent. Facebook users love fresh images, news, and stories and want to see new ones every time they log in. This means that you have to publish often, at least five times per week—and more often is even better.

Engaging. Posts that have more Comments, Tags, Shares, and Likes are spread more widely.

You can see on this post below that, because it got so many Likes, Shares, and Comments, it was seen by 17,344 people and got 876 Likes, 88 Shares, and 17 Comments in under one hour. The best part is this one post got my page 200 new Likes in one day…for free!