Did you know that Facebook publications are only seen by a small portion of your fans? The figure announced on this infography is striking: 84 % of fans do not see your publications!

Edgerank is the algorithm used by Facebook to determine what is displayed (and how high it will be) on your News Feed. Three factors are taken into account in the formula of EdgeRank: the affinity, the weight of the publications and the time decay.

What is affinity?

Affinity is a “nearness” based score. It could be defined as how close the “relationship” is between you and your connection. In the case of a brand and fans, affinity is built by repeated interactions with the brand: actions such as commenting, liking; sharing; clicking or messaging can influence a user’s affinity. But affinity is a one-way street! It means that by visiting the profile of a fan, you will not increase the probability of being displayed in its News Feed.

What is weight?

Weight is a value system created by Facebook to increase/decrease the value of certain actions within Facebook; The weight of publications means that certain types of contents have more chance of being dispayed in the News Feed than the others. Photos, videos and links have more weight than texts … Comments have a higher value than a Like. The weight of the publications of every person is different.

What is time decay?

Time decay refers to the “age” of the content. The older it is the less valuable it is.

Something recent is more likely to appear in the News Feed than something old. Time decay is the easiest variable to understand.

How to optimize EdgeRank ?

Your Brand will ultimately be judged by your ability to engage your content. To increase the visibility of your publications, you can follow these guidelines:

• Vary the types of contents associated to the publications.
• Ask questions to your community.
• Publish information when your community is connected.
• Explain to your fans why they should Like or Comment.
• Comment on contents published by your fans to try to improve the affinity.
• Publish contents regularly, at least once a day.
• Propose contents which will incite your fans to react.

Tip : How to evaluate your EdgeRank ?

Use EdgeRank Checker. This free tool to check your Facebook Page’s EdgeRank (or exposure within Facebook) in 1 simple step. Just upload your Facebook stats on the website. If your score is higher than 7, the EdgeRank of your page is above than average!