Facebook EdgeRank and News Feed Optimization? « The Blog of Matthew Loop

Facebook EdgeRank and News Feed Optimization?

When the news feed launched in 2006, it was a complete game-changer and has evolved into a phenomenal marketing platform for a select few. A few months ago Facebook engineers provided crucial insight into the algorithms that allow a news feed to show you relevant content. This is referred to as EdgeRank.

Here’s a CRITICAL fact you may not be aware of:

Facebook recently admitted that a whopping 95% of users only view the “Top News” on their Facebook home page. By default, the profile preferences are set that way. To remind you, there are actually two categories of news… the “most recent” and “top news.” See the image below.

“So what,” you may be thinking. “What does this have to do with me as a business owner?”

Well, it means that if you want to get the most visibility / exposure keeping your status updates in front of the most users, you MUST know how to optimize your Facebook posts for the news feed!

Many brands, entrepreneurs and small business owners I speak with completely miss this point, hence their sub-par results with Facebook marketing.

Contrary to popular belief, every personal or Fan Page friend you have doesn’t automatically see your status updates.

The implications for this are startling!

Most people think they can just get away with posting any old thing on Facebook and expect to get website traffic and new business walking through the door. In reality, that line of thinking couldn’t be farther from the truth.

Here’s the Facebook EdgeRank / News Feed Optimization equation:

Now, let’s break it down in layman’s terms. EdgeRank is the sum of all of those u, w, and d factors above.

Affinity Score – This number basically outlines the relationship between you and your friends. Facebook users that comment regularly and “like” your status updates have an increased affinity from those that don’t interact as much.

Why should you care?

The goal is to really post content or discussions that appeal to the masses of people connected to you. If you observe the same friends commenting and liking specific types of videos or photos, post different kinds of things like open-ended questions or polls to get feedback from other friends.

The more variety and participation you have with friends that give responses and “like” your status updates, the more exposure / visibility your profile will have in the news feed!

Content Weight Score – Each photo, video, and status update is assigned a score based on the number of comments and likes it receives. An status update with 20 comments and 20 likes carries more weight than a Facebook post with no comments and likes.

Why should you care?

It’s critical to have a marketing strategy that provides solid content and interaction that will generate feedback from your friends. Post jokes, quotes, educate friends, create invitations, say “thank you”, ask questions, etc.

Consider every status update an opportunity for getting important insight and learning more about your connected friends.

Time Decay Score – This is basically how long ago a users status update was posted. Status updates can lose traction quickly. For instance, the oldest status update in my news feed right now was created roughly 24 hours ago. Many were posted in the last 10 hours.

Why should you care?

You want to give each Facebook post a chance to gain maximum visibility and exposure. Posting back-to-back to back updates within an hour will hinder the other ones ability to get more comments and likes. You may want to have a semi-regular posting schedule (maybe 1 or 2 times / day) so that you always have a piece of content or update placed in the news feed of your Facebook connections.

Your overall Facebook marketing strategy should definitely involve news feed optimization and EdgeRank consideration. Many contend it’s just as important as search engine optimization (SEO) on Google. Here’s a short video about EdgeRank and news feed optimization:

Did you like this video and post? Click the Facebook “like” button below and share it with your friends.

Related Blog Posts:

How to Get a Custom Facebook Vanity URL

7 Useful Tips to Getting More Facebook Page Fans

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How to Import a WordPress Blog to Facebook

About the Author

Matthew Loop is an author, speaker, investor, philanthropist, and the highest paid social media revenue strategist in North America. He helps brands, startups, and small business owners multiply their influence, impact, and income by harnessing the power of the Internet. Since 2005 he’s trained over 21,000 clients in 25 countries. Millions have viewed his free business growth tutorials online. Connect with him on FacebookInstagram, and Twitter.

Comments

18 Responses to “Facebook EdgeRank and News Feed Optimization?”

  1. This one has really got me thinking. I have been doing too many facebook “auto-posts” that don’t get any traction and might hinder the quality post that was before the useless auto-post that didn’t have any links in it anyway! Thanks, Dr. Loop.

  2. great information like always… thanks Matt!

  3. Matthew Loop says:

    You’re welcome 😉

  4. Roderick says:

    Great info, thanks for adding it to the community!

  5. Thanks Matt! I had been posting new blogs post only on a certain day, and posting 3-4 at one time. I will now spread them out.

  6. Thanks Matt! Great stuff, can’t wait to see the results.

  7. Bob says:

    Thank you Dr. Matt…I appreciate the timely
    and relevant information…it will help me as a
    D.C. to be just that in my community!
    All the best in 2011 Doc!
    Bob

  8. Matthew Loop says:

    Douglas, Daniel, & Bob… Glad you docs found it useful!

  9. Kyle says:

    Great stuff, Matt. I haven’t heard this info anywhere else.

  10. jeff says:

    thanks Matt, again great info, hope to get some more soon. thanks

  11. With a busy practice, how would you suggest I best spend my time on social media marketing? Should blogging, commenting on blogs, posting on Facebook or something else take top priority? The internet has brought me a lot of new patients, but managing all of my campaigns takes up a lot of time.

  12. Very good Matt as we tell our clients, “People don’t live on your Wall they live on their Wall and they see you via the News Feed. That is why understanding you video and combining that with other means of communication like the Cross Platform Widget is so important.

  13. Ramón says:

    Thanks for the very interesting information. From now on we will need to have an eye on the Facebook EdgeRank and optimize the News Feed of our customers.

  14. @morphing says:

    This may seem simplistic, but here it is: behave as a Friend, not a Page. Ask questions of your FB followers. Respond. Communicate.

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