Earlier this month, one of my clients asked me to stop posting content on their Facebook page. I went from posting 6–7 pieces of content per day to posting nothing. And the client’s total page likes are in the thousands.
The moratorium lasted for less than a week, but when I saw the drop in reach on their page, I thought the experience could serve as a good reminder of why we should post new content on our Facebook pages.
Here’s a snapshot of the reach for my client’s Facebook page over the last month or so:
1. Drastic drop in reach
The moratorium was issued on the 8th, right at the peak you can see in the middle of the graph. The following day, reach was cut in half. In fact, it halved every day for 3 days. On the fourth day, it had dropped from the roughly 5,000 reach on the 8th to only 100 on the 12th, its lowest point.
2. Slow recovery in reach
You can see that on the 14th, the client removed the moratorium, and I began posting content again. However, you’ll also notice that in the 8 days that I’ve been posting fresh content again, reach is lower overall than it was prior to the moratorium. In fact, the average daily reach pre-moratorium was 3,568, compared to 2,583 post-moratorium, a drop of nearly 1,000.
3. Drop in engagement
Unsurprisingly, as reach dropped, so did engagement. In this example, the 12th saw 0 reactions, 1 comment, and 1 share. Pre-moratorium, average daily reactions sat at 122, average daily comments at 13, and average daily shares at 42. Post moratorium, engagement hasn’t fully recovered: reactions are at 84, comments at 8, and shares at 26.
So what can we learn from this?
Well, it’s anecdotal, but the experience does show that not keeping up with fresh content may result with no one seeing your content, and as a result, no one engaging with your content. Once you reach a point where you receive significant engagement, weigh the risks of losing all that reach and engagement before deciding to drastically alter your publication schedule.
Posting fresh content regularly is a key component of any successful social media strategy.
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