Facebook Organic Traffic Changes Make Life Difficult for Nonprofits
In the never-ending search for visibility, potential donors and online supporters, social media is an incredible tool for nonprofits large and small, but a tried-and-true formula for brand awareness may be falling by the wayside for many of these organizations. According to Nonprofit Quarterly, changes to Facebook algorithms in recent years have led to a significant decline in Facebook engagement, and organic reach has all but disappeared from the social network.
Nonprofits still have the ability to pay for advertisements in the hopes to boost specific posts and attract more likes, but the old strategy of building a community and engaging with an audience now appears to be extinct on the platform without capital to back of this type of marketing. Recently an online petition was formed by the Karuna Bully Rescue animal shelter called “Facebook: Change your Algorithm for Nonprofit Pages!”
This is a big first step for the nonprofit world, as they hope to avoid their pages being lumped together with other large businesses. After all, since most nonprofits use Facebook as a bulletin board for upcoming events and exchanging vital information, as opposed to directly marketing and selling products, they want to be kept separate from other large corporations.
After just a week, the petition has 7,500 signatures, but it remains to be seen whether Facebook will make the requisite changes to help out these organizations. On paper, it seems like a win-win for the social network, which can ensure that this digital platform will be a fixture of nonprofit marketing initiatives for the foreseeable future.
