The Facebook Algorithm

 

This isn't one of those moany comments about the Facebook Algorithm. You can't change it, so if something is out of your control, you have to look for things that are. It is more of a warning to musicians and listeners who use the Social Media giant to advertise or get their music fix.

Six months in, I looked at how readers were referred to I Don't Hear A Single and 80% were from Facebook. We are now six years on and obviously the volume of visitors are much higher and so you would expect that percentage to decrease.

At this time last year, Facebook accounted for 35% of the traffic, not insignificant and I made a note to check at the same time this year. During the 12 months, I Don't Hear A Single has grown, but not significantly enough to expect that the Facebook figure would be similar.

It was actually 14%, so the Facebook algorithm has certainly changed.

IDHAS's priorities have always been towards the Indie musician, getting more listeners to listen and hopefully buy music from the artist. A door opener if you like, because we are never going to get them a massive amount of converts, but enough to make a difference. Hopefully more will pick up on them and more interest is created.

The good news is that the change in Facebook referrals hasn't affected IDHAS, so the potential audience grows. But it is certainly a note of concern for artists, labels and venues at how little impact Facebook has now and certainly a warning of how they spend their hard earned dollars on promotion. If you are not paying Facebook for promotion (and that seems to be completely unworthwhile too), you are reaching less and less potential interest.

Remember, the 14% comes from my page, two IDHAS pages and other Facebook groups, so that shows the impact is severe, I don't want to teach people to suck eggs and finding new music could be covered in a different unrelated post.

Targeted Google searches still have the biggest impact, even using a search engine different to Google as an additional source. When you find a Blog or site you like, stick with it and look at the other places they recommend you to follow. Bandcamp has if you like this, you may like that and artist recommendations on their pages. 

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