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A Rant: Why Facebook “Reach” is Boop-Ass

Social Media for Restaurants - Social High Rise

Subject: Restaurant owners who are more involved with Facebook often ask about that little number called “reach” connected to each post, which can be seen if you are an administrator of a page. Facebook defines reach as “the number of people who have seen your post.” Reach can be reported as organic or paid, however, in this particular rant, I am focusing on organic reach.

Problem: Facebook page admins often see discrepancies in “reach” numbers that simply do not make sense, considering the number of likes/comments a particular post has received.

Example #1: The difference in reach between the following two pieces of content, posted 3 weeks apart, is minimal. However, one receives horrendously great engagement, while the other is piddle-sauce.

Facebook Reach is BS Example 1

Example #2: Post receiving 16 likes, 2 comments, using an extremely relevant hashtag & including several tagged pages = 14 (FOURTEEN) people reached?!

Facebook Reach is BS Example 2

Action: Over the past year, I have spent a significant amount of time searching for explanations from CREDIBLE sources regarding the legitimacy/accuracy of the “reach” number. As you might imagine, there’s a bunch of blogging-blather out there on the subject, but no solid answers have been identified.

[bctt tweet=”The reach number reported by Facebook is boop-ass.”]

Conclusion: My unscientific explanation based on the little experience I have (posting hundreds of pieces of content for businesses over the past 2 years) is that the “reach” number reported by Facebook is boop-ass.

End of rant.

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