3. History of Facebook
Launched in February 2004.
Founded by Mark Zukerberg
Was Limited to Harvard college students
Opened to public in September 2006
Funding
•April 2004 Series A funding by Peter Theil ($ 500,000)
•April 2005 Series B funding by Accel Partners (12.7 million USD)
•April 2006 Series C funding by Greylock, Meritech (27.5 million USD)
•October 2007 Series D funding by Microsoft (240 million USD)
•Feb 2012 IPO (16 billion USD)
A Brief Overview
Monthly Active Users (Worldwide): ~1.8 billion
Monthly Active Mobile Only Users (Worldwide): 581 million
Daily Returning Users (Worldwide): ~900 million
Active Facebook Pages: 60 million
80% Active Internet Users in India spend more than 15 minutes on
6 New Users added every second (i.e. almost half million new users daily)
4. Why do we need Facebook?
Customer POV Marketer POV
Consuming engaging content (via “Liked fan
Pages”
Defining a business goal (could increase sale,
raise brand awareness, get more people to
attend an event etc.)
Tracking family & friends lives (via profile
updates, pictures, live videos, stories)
Targeting a niche audience
Networking with like minded individuals (via
public and private groups)
Creating an organic strategy to get maximum
engagement by building a tight community.
Staying up-to-date with trending news and
activity (via #hashtags and trending topic
searches)
Growing the fan base for the business.
Experiencing an enhanced shopping experience
(via ads, offers, coupons)
Running specified ad campaigns to meet
business objectives
Participating in relevant events (via promoted
events)
Measuring & Monitoring performance
6. “As a marketer, don’t make the common mistake of creating a profile
for your business. Always create a business page and groups, strictly
no profiles for business”
7. Understanding Facebook Algorithm
Since Mark Zuckerberg’s 2018 announcement that the Facebook algorithm will prioritize “meaningful
interactions” from friends and family over content from brands, it has become trickier than ever to ensure
your organic content gets the screen time it deserves.
Zuckerberg cited “a responsibility to make sure our services aren’t just fun to use, but also good for people’s
well-being” as justification for the change, admitting that businesses will have to work harder than ever to
gain their customers’ attention on the platform.
Many brands and publishers understandably reacted to the announcement with worry and apprehension.
After all, Facebook is the largest social media platform in the world. And though organic reach has been
declining for a while, the platform has never publicly admitted it until now.
The new algorithm prioritizes active interactions like commenting and sharing over likes and click-throughs
(passive interactions)—the idea being that actions requiring more effort on the part of the user are of higher
quality and thus more meaningful. Rather than passively scrolling through the News Feed and occasionally
pausing to “like” a photo or an article, Facebook wants users to be inspired to engage in conversations with
each other.
8. Top ranking factors for the Facebook algorithm
Factor Algorithm
Comments
Pages making posts that people generally don’t react to or comment on could
see the biggest decreases in distribution.
Pages whose posts prompt conversations between friends will see less of an
effect.
Brands should create quality content focused on sparking conversations
between users.
Try including questions in your posts, or writing about timely, relevant topics
that users are sure to have an opinion on.
Conclusion : Users will be more likely to see your Facebook posts if their friends
and family are commenting on it.
Reactions
If a user takes the time to hit the “love” icon vs. the “like” icon, your content will
receive a minor boost in the News Feed. Just as in life, “loving” is a more valued
emotional signal than “liking.”
The same goes for all Facebook’s reactions: Haha, Wow, Sad, and Angry.
Facebook wants to see those “active” emotions.
Comment
Replies
The algorithm not only favors comments, but also replies to comments.
These signal that a piece of content is inspiring conversation between users.
Publish content that inspires users to tag their friends in comments and start a
conversation.
9. Top ranking factors for the Facebook algorithm
Factor Algorithm
Sharing links over
Messenger to a
group of friends
If a user shares a piece of content to their wall, that’s great.
But what’s even better is if they take the time to send it to a friend (or a group
of friends) over Facebook messenger.
Engagement on
shares
While sharing a post is a pretty “active” interaction compared to most,
Facebook is going one step further. Simply getting shares is not enough.
Your post must be shared and get engagement on that share to be prioritized in
the algorithm
Average time
spent on content
The average amount of time a user spends engaging with or viewing a post.
Presumably longer is better
When it’s posted
Your post is more likely to get engagement if you post it at a time that users are
likely to be online
Story type
Your post a status update, photo, link, video, or live video
(Facebook’s press release specifically mentioned live video as often “leading to
discussion among viewers.” But that is the only clue about what story types the
algorithm might prioritize.)
10. Top ranking factors for the Facebook algorithm
Factor Algorithm
Completeness of
page profile
The more fields you fill out on your Facebook business page, the better.
This is so that Facebook and potential followers can get a clear idea of who you
are and the legitimacy of your business
Engagement on
shares
While sharing a post is a pretty “active” interaction compared to most,
Facebook is going one step further. Simply getting shares is not enough.
Your post must be shared and get engagement on that share to be prioritized in
the algorithm
How informative
the post is?
For some users “informative” could mean “news”, while for others it could mean
recipes or celebrity gossip.
If you post content your fans love. Facebook
will reward you by showing those posts to
more of your fans You need to know how to put that algorithm
in the best position to succeed if you’re going
to scale up into these big numbers.