In 2018, Facebook changed its news feed algorithm to prioritize content that is most engaging and important to individual users. As a result, the reach for business pages may suffer unless companies take steps to produce conversation-generating posts and leverage Facebook Live video.
We’re barely into 2018 and Facebook is already giving brands their first content marketing crisis of the year. Catch up on how Facebook’s changes will affect you and discover other news and information you should have on your radar.
Facebook Drops a Bomb on Brands — Here’s What It Means for You
For months, Facebook has dropped hints that impending news feed changes may be on the way. Well, the social giant has stopped dropping hints and is now instead dropping bombs. A Mark Zuckerberg Facebook post and a blog post by Head of News Feed, Adam Mosseri, last week announced that Facebook is preparing to make major changes to its news feed algorithm that will make it much more difficult — and expensive — for brands to reach individuals on Facebook.
So, what are the most important items from this announcement that you need to know?
Facebook will prioritize conversation-sparking posts.
This means that if your brand does a good job at creating content that causes Facebook users to interact with other Facebook users, there is a greater chance that your content will be visible on news feeds. If people aren’t engaging with others about your content, you should expect problems.
Posts from friends and family will be more prevalent in news feeds.
Facebook says its users care most about connecting with friends and family members, so going forward, users will be more likely to see more baby pictures and wedding photos than brand posts and videos.
Facebook will show less public content.
In his Facebook post, Zuckerberg specifically called this out. “You’ll see less public content like posts from businesses, brands, and media,” Zuckerberg wrote. “And the public content you see more will be held to the same standard — it should encourage meaningful interactions between people.”
People can still choose to see content from brands first.
People who specifically want to see posts from pages they follow can select “See First” in their news feed preferences so they can see posts from their favorite accounts. Just remember, though, that begging people to choose to see your content first looks a little desperate. Speaking of desperation.
Facebook will demote your posts if you try to compel users to engage.
This means that posts that say things like “comment below” are not going to yield the results you are looking for. Facebook provided users with information last year about how it is fighting “engagement-bait.”
Live video might be your best option.
Because live videos often create opportunities for people to discuss content with one another, publishing these videos will likely lead to more visibility of your posts in the news feed.
In short, it’s time for your organization to take a hard look at its Facebook publishing and content strategy. Perhaps Social Media Examiner CEO, Mike Stelzner, explained things best on during a Facebook Live video in which he discussed the changes.
“Things will not be removed from the news feed, but they will be so minimized that we will be forced to rethink all of our organic activity and instead focus on paid acquisition.” Stelzner said.
In short, if you want your organization’s content to be visible on Facebook, either make it engaging or be prepared to pay.
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