Welcome to our simple guide on Facebook reach and how it’s figured out. If you’re new to social media, this is an important thing to understand. So, what’s Facebook reach? It’s like a counter that tells you how many people see the things you put on Facebook. It’s not just about the number of likes or comments; it’s about how many people look at your stuff.
But how do they count it? Well, it’s not as easy as counting your friends. Facebook uses some special math to decide who gets to see what you post. We’ll explain it in a way that’s easy to understand, so you can use this knowledge to make better choices for your social media plans. Let’s get started!
What does reach mean on Facebook?
On Facebook, “reach” means how many different people saw your stuff. It’s like counting how many people have noticed your brand on Facebook.
But here’s the catch: they count it differently—looking at just one day, a week, or a month. Let me explain with examples:
- If one person sees your things twice in one day and then twice the next day, they count it as two separate views for each day if you’re checking daily.
- If you’re looking at a week or a whole month, they’ll only count that person once during that time, no matter how often they see your stuff.
So, what’s important to know is that the same results can look different based on the period you’re looking at. Remember this when you’re checking your numbers to avoid confusion.
Understanding the Different Forms of Facebook Reach
Understanding how Facebook figures outreach is a good start. But it’s also helpful to know the differences between the types of reach:
- Post reach is how many people saw one of your Facebook posts in their news feed.
- Page reach is how many people have seen any of your stuff appear in their feed.
These reach types can be split into three more categories:
Facebook organic reach
This is the free way your posts are seen on Facebook. It includes your fans seeing your stuff in their feed when you post, people looking at your pictures and collections, or users noticing mentions of your profile.
To get more people to see your posts without paying, figure out when your audience is most active and try to get more likes and comments.
Facebook viral reach
Viral reach is when people see your stuff because someone else shared it, not because they found it on your page.
For example, if one of your fans shares your post and their Facebook friends see it, that’s viral reach. When you have a lot of viral reach, it means your community is actively sharing your stuff with others online.
Facebook-paid reach
This one is quite clear. It’s all about the folks who saw your stuff because you paid Facebook to show it to them (your chosen audience).
To get more eyes on your paid content, you can make your Facebook ads better. Experiment with who you want to target and how much you want to spend, make new groups of people to show your ads to, and try different ad designs.
What does all this mean?
Knowing the idea is one part, but making it work for your plan is another. Here are some important things to remember when you look at how many people see your stuff on Facebook.
You cannot sum up Facebook reach
Reach is a number that shows how many different people saw your stuff. But it only makes sense when you look at it over 1, 7, or 28 days, as Facebook does.
For example, if you check reach for 7 days, and someone sees your stuff twice one week and twice the next week, they still count as one person each week. But you can’t add them up, because it won’t show how many different people saw your stuff in those specific timeframes.
Understand Facebook total reach
Now, let’s discuss something called “total reach.” It’s not about adding up shorter reach numbers (which is a no-no).
Total reach is just a way to say how many people saw a page or a single piece of content at a certain time. It counts different types of reach, like the regular kind, the paid kind, and the viral kind.
Having Lots of Facebook Fans Doesn’t Mean More Organic Reach
Some social media marketers think that if you have lots of fans on Facebook, all of them will see your posts. But that’s not true.
The Facebook system decides who gets to see your posts, and not everyone who follows you will. It depends on what you post when you post it, and other things.
Also, not only your fans see your posts; sometimes, people who aren’t your fans see them too, especially when others mention or share your stuff.
What Lies Ahead for Facebook Reach
Since 2014, the number of people seeing your Facebook posts without you paying has been going down. This happened because Facebook was getting bigger, and more and more stuff was being posted.
With so many people and businesses wanting to show their stuff, Facebook had to decide what to show each person. They decided to show only the stuff they thought a person would like the most.
This meant that if you had a Facebook page or profile, fewer people would see your posts without you paying. Then in 2018, Facebook made even bigger changes. They said they wanted to focus on keeping people connected, which is good for personal things but not great for businesses trying to reach new customers.
One big change was how they counted reach. Before February 2018, they looked at how many times your stuff appeared in people’s news feeds. Now, they count how many times it shows up on someone’s screen. This is more like how they measure reach for ads, and it made it harder for Pages to reach lots of people without paying.
Conclusion
On Facebook, reach helps businesses see how they’re doing, but it’s not just about likes and comments. To truly know if your Facebook marketing is working and to make it better, you must understand reach.
We hope this guide has made things easier for you to grasp. Take care!