A new trend in social media has us wonder if Facebook jumped the shark for food truck vendors. The mobile food industry exploded in 2008 right at the time social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter began receiving millions of added users. Food truck owners such as Roy Choi of Kogi BBQ learned quickly that by using social media, these platforms allowed them to reach their fans and followers quickly without having to spend money on location promotion.

That was then, and for now Facebook appears to have chosen to eliminate this option…at least one that doesn’t cost these mobile vendors a dime. In a recent change we noticed at Mobile Cuisine, Facebook is charging business page users for highlighting their important posts, or at least the posts they want to reach all of the individuals who have liked their pages.

How Facebook Jumped The Shark For Food Trucks

So you’ve spent the last year or two building up the number of likes to your food truck page so that you are able to spread the word to your truck’s location. Now your posts will only be able to reach (at max) 16% of your fan base unless you give Facebook the ability to charge you approximately $2 per hundred people reached.

For trucks with upwards of 1000 likes it could mean being charged $20 if you want all of your fans to see where you will be parked at next. If you have multiple trucks or relocate 2 or 3 times a day, this could quickly escalate to a few hundred dollars a week for a service which up to this point was free. If you aren’t interested in this option, your location posts would be limited to approximately 160 of your fans.

While this won’t stop people from seeing your location posts on your Facebook page, it will limit the exposure of your posts in the news feeds of those who like your page.

Representatives at Facebook have stated that this is only a test, but due to their recent problems in the stock market, the writing is clearly on the wall (excuse the pun), and you can bet this new roll out will become a permanent “feature” for Facebook in the very near future.

We will keep an eye on this situation and keep you up to date if anything should change.

RELATED: Low Cost Marketing Solutions For Food Truck Vendors

The Bottom Line

Facebook jumped the shark for new food truck owners primarily because they have made it cost money to actually get the word out about your truck.

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