All social sites want more and more users and to increase how often they use the app or website, but this means they have taken measures that don’t make it easy for content to be seen from a business.
The Problem
To do this, they have all made sure that your posts aren’t shown to as many people if they contain links away from the social network.
Meaning, if you don’t add a link to a website outside of Facebook or Twitter etc., then your post will be seen by more people.
You may think that’s fine.
You may think, well I’ll just keep all content on those sites and build up my list of followers.
The thing is, your content won’t be seen by a particularly high percentage of your followers.
Video content performs better than any other though. Therefore, you would have to upload the video each time to all of the networks.
This is fine, but it’s not going to be seen by as many people as it would on YouTube. So you want them to click through and subscribe on there instead, or visit your website.
And there’s the problem, they don’t want you to do that, so they’ll make sure that far fewer people will see those posts with links.
How They Work
Facebook: Links to websites other than Facebook will have less ‘reach’ than content without any links at all, favouring text, images and video uploaded directly to Facebook.
Twitter: Tweets and replies are favoured over links away from Twitter.
Instagram: No links are allowed here anyway, apart from on your profile page. More engagement from your content (i.e. likes and replies etc.) will increase the number of people who will see your posts outside of your direct followers, extending your reach further than other sites.
LinkedIn: Less visibility on the site for posts containing links, meaning you would also need to take them out for any content on here as well.
Your Options
So what are your options?
Do you stay feeding each individual social site? Or do you still link out to another website?
Option 1: Serve the Networks
You could choose to keep all content on the social sites without any links.
Doing this will make sure that your posts have the best chance of being seen and will gain the most engagement possible.
You’ll gradually generate more likes and followers, albeit at a glacial pace, but a pace nonetheless.
Option 2: Redirect to your own Website
Or you could choose to link out to other sites.
Videos should link to where you’ve uploaded them on YouTube for the highest engagement for video content. You’ll need to optimise your videos and use conversion tactics to make sure that viewers become Subscribers.
Even though YouTube is technically a social network, you can always make sure that they view your website from here as well.
All other content will link to the relevant blog post on your website and use conversion optimisation techniques here as well to make sure people sign up to your email list where they’re more likely to see your future content.
Conclusion
Although it’s tempting to bow to the social media giants while polishing your shrines and saying your daily prayers, it’s not best for the long run.
They all change their algorithms at any time to better suit their needs.
In the past, it wasn’t difficult for your content to be seen, then they made changes and it’s far harder for your tiny little voice to be heard.
Even though fewer people will see your content by adding a link, those who do follow it through to your website and sign up to your mailing list are much more likely to see your content.
Social sites will keep changing the way content will be seen from businesses, but you have complete control over your own website and its email list.
How do you feel about the power of social sites? Do you have an email list set up for your website? Leave a comment below.