Do you believe Facebook is a great way to share your content? You probably answered “yes” because you can publish your own Facebook page and once people “Like” your page they will see all of your posts in their “News Feed.” Is this right??? Sorry, the conclusion mentioned above is actually WRONG.

Next time you’re on Facebook, take a closer look at your News Feed. In the upper right-hand portion of the screen, your News Feed is actually divided into two categories: “Top News” and “Most Recent.”

Through private conversations with Facebook staff, Jeff Widman at BrandGlue – a Facebook management company – revealed that 95% of Facebook users only read their newsfeeds by “Top News” instead of “Most Recent.”

(In the tone of Homer Simpson) D’OH!

This means that it is possible that only 5% of your fans may actually see your content. Factor in research from ExactTarget and CoTweet that states 65% of Facebook users do not log-in during the workday, but rather at night and on weekends. This means that a large portion of your fans could be missing out on your content.

According to Emily Molitor, writer for Smart Blog on Social Media, the “Top News” is determined by Edge Rank, an algorithm that reflects three components:

Affinity Score: The amount you have historically engaged with content by a person/page increases your affinity to the content creator.

Timing: The more recent the post, the higher it ranks.

Weight: As posts are commented on, liked and shared by other Facebook users and their networks, their overall weight increases.

Emily recommends 3 actions to get your content into the Top News:

1. Post content frequently. This increases your chances via the timing angle.
2. Consider your post timing. “Off hours” might work best for posting your content.
3. Use calls to action in your posts. Encourage your fans to like, comment, or share your content to increase the weight.

I would like to add 1 spiritual recommendation to that list: If you have your own page, make sure you are interacting with other pages. If you see a post from another page, be generous with “Likes,” comments, and sharing. Whatever you sow, you will reap.

Mason Media factors this information into clients’ packages when setting up their Facebook page and implements strategies to help them in “Winning the Facebook News Feed.”

To read Emily Molitor’s complete article, click here.

As always I hope you found this article helpful. Thanks for stopping by!