Facebook has admitted what many have long suspected: that brands will have to pay to gain traction on the social network.

Pay to play

The revelation comes courtesy of new sales material Facebook sent to its partners and first reported by AdAge.

In Facebook's material the company speculates that organic search (ie non-paid) will decline and the best way to maximise exposure is through paid distribution.

Crowded market

Facebook supplemented the materials with a blog post, explaining that increased traffic on Facebook, both from individuals and brands, was also to blame for the drop is organic exposure.

“People are connecting and sharing more than ever. On a given day, when someone visits News Feed, there are an average of 1,5001 possible stories we can show.

“As a result, competition for each News Feed story is increasing. Because the content in News Feed is always changing, and we’re seeing more people sharing more content, Pages will likely see changes in distribution,” wrote Facebook's Richard Sim.

Numbers game

The message is clear, as Facebook gets busier brands must get more creative, or pay, to gain traction.

While figures show that content such as photos and videos tend to be more popular than text-only posts, the age of getting a free ride on Facebook might be coming to an end. 

To find out more visit facebook.com/business/news. 

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