Last time I wrote and published a blog it was right after Facebook changed… again. The changes again had to do with how your newsfeed looks to you. This change drastically hurt pages at the time and for a good week because your newsfeed is now built on your interactions with your friends, groups and pages and your own ranking of posts as “Top Stories” or not.

Since that first week the ranking of pages improved to where the pages to which I am an administrator had the normal amount of traffic again. Keeping that traffic and increasing that traffic has become even more of a game of “what is Edge Rank going to do with this?” There are many who are much smarter than me, and those who pay for the numbers to be analyzed. They have this all figured out. This is what I do.

These items are what I note before I look at the numbers:
•    time of post
•    kind of post
•    tone of post
•    length of post
•    encouragement of interaction of post

Then I look at the numbers of the new Facebook Insights of “Reach,” “Engaged Users,” “Talking About This” and “Virality.” I’m not a numbers person… or at least I wasn’t until recently. I now dream numbers. (And this totally freaks me out.)

I’m an administrator to 13 pages (no, I’m not the one doing the posting on all these pages – I’m assisting and strategizing for them.) While I want all the Insight numbers to be high, I do like to have “Talking About This” to be the highest followed by “Reach” then “Engaged Users.” “Talking About This” and “Reach” are what will give your posts a viral reach a.k.a. “Virality”.

It’s all dandy that you click on our posts, but unless you like, share, comment or answer the posts our viral reach will be low.

A low viral reach makes me sad. A major reason to have such a rich, deep Facebook community is to have your posts, your content, YOUR BRAND spread across the World Wide Web. A low viral reach means you’re not getting that spread. (Side note: be mindful of what posts are getting you a great viral reach. If your viral reach is only for fun and contests and not about your actual message and brand, you have a problem.)

While I try to play the numbers game I have decided: I would rather post more frequently to get our posts on some percent of newsfeeds than to miss newsfeeds completely, all because we’re posting to infrequently.  Again, things show up in your newsfeed because of the importance Facebook has determined it to be to you. That importance is determined by your interaction and own labeling of that person, group or page. 

If you’re not posting, or posting but posting infrequently you may not be getting the interaction you need to make sure your posts show up in newsfeeds. If you’re not being seen at all, not having any reach or engagement or virality, then you really need to ask yourself this time-old question, “If a tree falls in the woods and there is no one there, does it make a noise?” 

What kind of noise do you make? Are you being heard?

Now with Facebook you never know when the next big change will be. Timeline is supposed to be that, but who knows how long it will take for Timeline to roll out completely. Facebook just settled with the FTC on privacy practices, but I’m not one to believe my privacy will now be protected by Facebook, and neither should you think it. Facebook Insights aren’t done changing yet. I have no doubt Facebook going for an IPO in 2012 will create even more changes