"Boost your post! This post is performing better than....

[tirediron]

75% of your other posts. For only $26, you can reach XXX thousand people.." This is what greets me with pretty much every post I make on facebook. Why or how is it, that every post I make performs better than 75% of my other posts (although to be fair the performance varies between 75 and 85%), and how is it that one time $26 will get me an 8000 person reach, and others ~100,000? I know that facebook uses some incredibly complex formulae to get the most money out of your wallet, but shouldn't certain things be somewhat consistent?

Does anyone have real knowledge of how this actually works??????

 

[Overread]

Well I know that there's a lot of illegitimate companies/people who will sell you likes/votes/whatevers on Facebook. You can normally spot people who've used them because they are often small companies that suddenly get 100000 likes/views on their posts without any apparent market to generate such interest.


If its facebook itself then chances are it just means that by paying your posts get boosted over regular posts when stuff is shown/searched/etc.... No idea how it works nor if it actually turns into increased profit/exposure of if it just boosts your numbers on site.

 

[SquarePeg]

On the page I manage for our town's softball league, I get the same boost prompts on every post. I agree it makes no sense.

My brother runs a charity that has a big presence on Facebook. He has done a lot of research on how Facebook limits who can see your posts. People have to use the Follow function or they will only see a very small portion of your posts even if they have "friended " you and/or "liked" your page. Especially if they have their Facebook feed set up for most popular instead of most recent.

Per my brother, you'd be better off spending that boost money bribing a few friends with dinner and drinks and getting them to consistently like and comment on your posts as that is what generates "reach".

 

[Designer]

"The interwebs is like the subway." (to paraphrase a well-known political donor)

"You have to put coins in the slot to open the gate."

 

[pixmedic]

FB has a pretty complicated algorithm for their "pay for clicks" system, but they fluff their numbers a bit by using your lowest scoring posts for a period of time and claiming they can "up" the views by X percentage. in their disclaimers it states that your posts are guaranteed (ish) to reach a certain number range of people according to your listed demographic, but no actual "clicks" are guaranteed....only that your page will turn up as a suggested page on a certain amount of profiles.
so basically, they are only saying they can get you "views", not people actually going to your page.

FB can be a useful marketing tool... but, it's really most effective when you have thousands of "friends" that can multiply the shares of your posts.

 

[vintagesnaps]

Same thing with our nonprofit, I always see prompts to boost posts. We're no way spending/wasting money on that. I just try to make more than one post on the same topic within a few days so followers may see at least one of them, and try to remind people to check out our page.

From what I remember Facebook made changes so that not everyone that follows you sees all your posts anymore. I have looked at friends' pages to touch base and see things they posted that never showed up on my newsfeed.

 

[tirediron]

'bout what I figured. I just wish someone could explain how every one of the last dozen or so posts I've made "is performing better than 75% (or more) of my posts, yet the shares, "Likes" and views are remarkably consistent and spread out over a similar time frame.

 

[Overread]

Oh that, that 75% is marketing and is only there to make you think its doing better and thus how much better could it be if you pay for the specials club. It's probably supported by some convoluted code that gives them justification for the 75% statement.

 

[jake337]

Just go to YouTube and type in Facebook fraud.

 

[jake337]

Same thing with our nonprofit, I always see prompts to boost posts. We're no way spending/wasting money on that. I just try to make more than one post on the same topic within a few days so followers may see at least one of them, and try to remind people to check out our page.

From what I remember Facebook made changes so that not everyone that follows you sees all your posts anymore. I have looked at friends' pages to touch base and see things they posted that never showed up on my newsfeed.

This is correct. The only way to see everyone's post is to delete your account, re-join, and then never like, share or comment again.

As soon as you make a single like, comment or share Facebook's algorithms step in.

 

[zombiesniper]

I thought for about one millisecond about boosting a post the first time or two they came out. Then I thought about what I did with adds that showed up on my timeline. I always do one of two things.
1. Ignore and keep scrolling.

2. Delete the add and block the company.

Therefore in my view it would be downright stupid of me to boost a post since at best it would get ignored and at worst my page would get blocked.

What do you do when you see an add on your timeline?

As for the algorithms = Witchcraft