It's no secret that Facebook has slowly but surely been reducing the reach of organic reach, however the latest figures show that unpaid posts now reach just 6 per cent of followers.

Not a lot to Like

According to an article in Time, a study of 100 Facebook brand Pages by Ogilvy & Mather discovered that in October 2013 up to 12 per cent of organic posts reached followers. 

By February 2014 this figure had dropped to 6 per cent. Time also cited other reports speculating that Facebook is planning to dial down this figure to 2 per cent.

Pay to play

While Facebook's user base steamrolls past 1.23 billion, it makes sense that brand Pages will have to pay to stand out.

Currently the average user can potentially access 1500 posts daily, which Facebook culls to 300 in the News Feed.

However will the latest update push SMEs too far?

Like it or lump it

So far, the strategy doesn't appear to be hurting Facebook, whose ad revenue is expected to increase from US$7 billion in 2013 to US$10.8 in 2014.

The challenge for brands will be deciding how much a Facebook post worth, weighed up against more economical alternatives from rival platforms, blogs and email marketing. 

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