Garry Grant — March 7, 2018 — March 7, 2018
Earlier this month, Mark Zuckerberg announced Facebook would be once again changing the news feed algorithm. Now, there will be more priority on content from “friends, family, and groups”, meaning that Pages will be less visible. While this may be a good thing for consumers who are tired of seeing their feeds inundated with commercial content – it’s not a good thing for businesses that rely on Facebook marketing to connect with current and prospective customers. Changes will roll out over the next few months, and this will likely translate to much lower organic reach.
Facebook’s Latest News Feed Update
No one really knows exactly what goes into the Facebook News Feed algorithm, but just like with Google – we have some clues and good ideas based on experimentation. While we don’t know what the changes will be, Facebook will still make it possible for businesses to interact with people on Facebook – but those who lack interaction will see a dramatic decline in distribution. This is because Facebook is concerned about providing a quality experience that promotes a user’s well-being – and their research shows genuine interactions between friends is what does that.
What You Need to Do
Ask Your Followers to Mark Your Page as “See First”’
Facebook understands why marketers and advertisers would be worried about the algorithm change. In an effort to appease their worries, they’re advising brand and Page managers to ask their audience to mark Pages they want to keep up with as “See First” so they can actively remain part of the News Feed. This is a double opt-in – because first the person has to “Like” the page, and then mark it as “See first.” Though there’s still no real guarantee your audience will see your posts this way, it can’t hurt. Your audience may not opt to mark your page this way, but for those that do – you know you have at least some engaged fans.
Focus on Meaningful Engagement
If you’re posting content, but no one is commenting, then you don’t have meaningful engagement as far as Facebook is concerned. Your content should be aimed at generating back and forth conversation – between you and your fans – and between fans themselves. Self-serving content hasn’t had a place in social media for a long time now, but if you’re still using it – now’s definitely the time to get rid of it.
How do you do this with your content? Focus on creating content that’s visual, meaningful, relatable, and original. This can help you connect with your followers. Focus less on your brand interests, and more on what your users want and prefer.
Create a Facebook Group and link it your Page. Encourage conversation there.
Ramp Up Your Facebook Video Marketing
Video does well on Facebook, and is a major part of the algorithm. Start doing more Live broadcasts, interviews, and so on.
Add in Other Video Marketing Platforms
Take those Facebook Live videos, and add them to YouTube. Add Instagram video. Expanding your reach is never a bad thing.
Remember – Advertising is Still an Option
Facebook Ads won’t be affected by this algorithmic change, so you are still free to advertise your business to a large audience. However, Facebook Ads can get expensive, and may be out of reach for many small businesses. Facebook is a business first and foremost, and if it can increase its bottom line by manipulating what the businesses who use it have to do to be successful with it, it’s going to do it. That’s what we’re seeing here.
Want to take your social media to the next level? Need help with your PPC management – either through Google, Bing, or Facebook? Contact us to learn more about how we can help you grow your business today.
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