The biggest shift Facebook has engaged in over the past few years is it's shift from an organic reach treadmill into a pay-to-play marketing platform.

While for many marketers this may be hard to stomach, but it was inevitable

source: comicvine.com

See Ogilvy's graph of it's research into the topic and note two distinct and logical reasons.

1. Competition for attention is higher.

2. User Evaluated Happiness

The study took place between the last quarter of 2013 to the first quarter of 2014 for over 100+ pages & over 48 million fans and as you can plainly see, organic reach declined to 6% for all pages during those 4-5months.  Larger pages experienced an even smaller engagement in the realm of 2-3%.

source: social.oglivy.com

Now the hard part – Why is the decline of organic reach a good thing?  Check out this quick analysis by Unbounce…

Why the decline of organic reach is a good thing

When a social network first achieves mainstream popularity (think Facebook circa 2009, Instagram in 2014-15, Snapchat in 2016) organic reach rules the roost. As a marketer, it’s all about figuring out what content your audience craves and giving it to them.

Then, we hit a peak, and suddenly the social network all but transforms into a pay-to-play platform — bringing with it another huge marketing opportunity. At Buffer, it’s something we like to call The Law of the Double Peak:

Facebook hit the organic peak in 2014, and since then reach has declined to a point where it’s almost at zero now. But, on the other hand, we’re left with a far more powerful advertising tool than we had before.

It’s also important to remember that before social media — with print, radio, TV, banner ads, direct mail or any other form of advertising — there was no such thing as organic reach. You couldn’t create a piece of content and get it seen by thousands (even millions) with no budget.

Facebook, now, is probably one of the most cost-effective digital ad products we’ve ever seen. It’s the best way to reach a highly targeted audience and drive awareness about your product or service, and probably an even better marketing channel than it was back in 2012 when organic reach hit its peak.

It's a simple and logical conclusion really – the folks at Unbounce have a further analysis on the topic and some optimization guidelines to follow see it here –> unbounce.com

 As a marketer's medium, Facebook has nailed down it's allure for marketers everywhere – offering a tremendous way to reach hundreds, thousands and even millions of eyes on any type or piece of content you can produce.  The concept of ‘organic reach' is a luxury afforded by today's digital marketer that offers unbounded potential never before seen.  

Make sure you are evolving and adjusting to our ever-changing digital world fellow marketer!

or prepare for deletion….

See you next time fellow marketer…