Today's topic is about Facebook. A lot can be said about this social network. It is THE social network, the one which actually has the higher numbers.

We want to inform you about the existence of a tool, which you are probably already aware of: Facebook pages. Pages are means of communication used by many companies (as well as by privates) to get exposure and, above all, to promote their business and products.

So, if you are a company and you haven't created a Facebook page yet, or you only have a personal and private profile, don't wait to long to create one. It could bring significant benefits.

Let's try to understand why a Facebook page is so “powerful”.

First of all, if you rely on a specialist, such as a social media manager, the page can actually create brand awareness and conversions from simple users into customers.

However, it's not that easy to create a page that won't end up being forgotten. Many pages find themselves having thousands of fans who don't interact, and they might as well not exist at all. This raises the question:

“As a company, why would I care to have many likes when they don't lead me to any conversion?”

The answer is very simple (or at least it seems that way): Facebook uses an unknown algorithm, called EdgeRank:

"It is an algorithm made by Facebook (like Google PageRank) that is used to establish in terms of quantity and quality, the weight to give to any status update or each post published on Facebook. It determines which of the content on a page will appear in the News Feed of fans/followers. Since not everyone sees everything, some posts have zero visibility."

As mentioned, a large number of fans on your page doesn't necessarily means an equally high number of interactions. In order to increase the EdgeRank, spontaneous interaction with fans is the key.

The easiest way to increase your EdgeRank is probably to pay and invest more in advertising, which is exactly what Facebook would want you to do. But not everyone agrees to invest always on Facebook advertising, some people simply roll up their sleeves and do it on their own.

How the EdgeRank is calculated

EdgeRank is calculated by considering three main variables. Let's take a closer look:

• Affinity: it is the indicator of the relationship that you have with one person or a page. It is determined according to the interactions on the contents of a particular contact. The higher the engagement of user/page, the greater the degree of affinity. Consequently, the post will be more visible among the top news feed on the home user (fan).

• Weight: probably the most important variable for Facebook pages. Facebook weighs different types of posts differently, such weight increases with the interactions and decreases each time the post is not seen. For example, a status update will be seen several times over a link or a video, because it is virtually lighter.

• Time Decay: the life of a post is another key variable. Facebook does its best to keep a user’s newsfeed fresh, meaning that as a post ages it continually loses value.

How to increase the EdgeRank

If you are administrators of a Facebook page and you want to invest in social media, you have to be relevant and original. There are lots of pages similar to yours, the competition is stiff.

If you are a company that sells products, do it in an original way. Sometimes it only takes a different expression to create a distinctive feature that will set you apart from your competitors.

Excite your fans' curiosity, turn them into consumers by offering great last-minute offers and exclusive discounts for newsletters' subscribers.

Use user-centered approach: meet their needs, identify yourself in what users look for and help them find what they're looking for before they figure it out on their own.

Asking for interaction, such as an opinion, can result in a large number of interactions and consequently the weight of the post page will increase.

Use advertising to show your products. Increase the frequency of post publication (provided that posts are interesting and pertinent to the core business).

Increase the interaction with your posts, by replying to comments. Every comment or reply is a way to increase the performance of the page interaction and the EdgeRank.

Finally, keep in mind that not everything revolves around Facebook, you can facilitate your marketing strategy by using other social networks and your website to bring users on your page.

To sum it all up, here's an infographic that simplify all that we have discussed in this post: