The End of Facebook’s Free Brand Ride

04/17/2014


On the heels of Eat24’s awesome blog post decrying Facebook’s latest changes to brand pages and the end of the free brand page ride, many brands are wondering just how much they’ll have to pony up to get their posts served to their audience.

While Facebook hasn’t exactly been free for a long time for most major brands, small businesses and startups are obviously the most affected by the death of the organic reach. Brands will have to add an amount that could be anywhere from $10 to $1,000 a day just for their posts to be seen, let alone liked or shared. So much for Facebook leveling the playing field.

Does this mean that brands will take Eat24’s cue and flee what has become the most cost-effective brand advertising platform? Not yet. Frankly, there really isn’t a better alternative to the flexibility and reach that Facebook offers. While Twitter looks to be the frontrunner, their ad effectiveness is still unproven (and we’ve used it with diminishing esults). Snapchat is too nascent, Vine is too quirky, Pinterest too limited in demographic targets. Until the new Facebook comes along, the MySpace killers will continue to call the shots, and we’ll all have to open our wallets for the pleasure of Facebook’s company.

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