The internet has been buzzing lately that Facebook has once again made changes to its algorithm – and this time, these changes may be cause for concern for business pages on Facebook. Facebook recently announced that they were going to limit promotional content that is displayed in personal newsfeeds. While the new Facebook algorithm may provide challenges to marketing directors and social media managers, understanding the new algorithm change is the best way to create a game plan for maximizing reach and continuing success with Facebook marketing.
The New Algorithm: What and Why?
When implementing this new algorithm, Facebook released a statement explaining the purpose of the change and the reasons behind it. Recently, Facebook put out a survey and the results of this survey showed that people wanted to see more posts from friends and from pages they cared about, and less promotional content. “Promotional content” does not refer to ads (which Facebook controls for both quantity and quality), as much as it refers to posts from liked pages that consumers see as too promotional. Too promotional means posts that are intended to coerce people into buying a product, installing an app, or entering sweepstakes, with no real content included. Essentially, posts which re-use the same basic content as ads.
The results of this survey led to the Facebook algorithm change. Facebook’s intention is to make the Facebook newsfeed more relevant and effective; all in all, to make each user experience on Facebook better. However, this change means that pages posting promotional content can expect a decrease in the distribution of their posts.
But don’t freak out! This does not decrease the importance of your business page – it merely makes it more important that your business is posting relevant and engaging content, which will in turn reach a more relevant audience. This should actually increase business by increasing interaction between your page and audience. Facebook isn’t trying to keep people from seeing your content. Instead, they are trying to make sure content that reaches individuals is authentic and engaging and is not advertising products or services (this is what Facebook Ads are for).
The New Facebook Algorithm: Getting Into The Facebook News Feed
When Facebook changes something, as a business page owner you need to adjust your own approach to managing your Facebook business page to keep up with the changes. Here are some tips to consider for adjusting to the 2018 Facebook algorithm changes:
1. Facebook Pages Are Key For Customer Service
A good way to start is to start viewing your business page as more than just a publishing platform – it is also a key point of customer service and interaction. Effective customer service is based in creating a great relationship with your customers, and Facebook is an online platform where you can create community and maintain relationships with customers.
One tip to help drive your customers to your Facebook page and increase interaction is to use Facebook ads to retarget people who visit your website to Like your Facebook page. You can also use Facebook Ads to retarget email lists of customers as well. This is a great way to build your Facebook page community and increase interaction with your actual customers. The more customers talk with you online the better chance you will have to get in front of their friends and grow your page following and eventually your customer base.
2. Facebook Page Engagement Is Essential
Engagement and interaction on your Facebook posts are what drives your content to show up on in newsfeeds. This means that posting content that will get a lot of likes, comments, and shares will have a better chance of appearing in your customers newsfeeds. There are certain things you can do to help make this happen:
Tips for Facilitating Engagement and Interaction on Your Page
- Keep your posts short, fun, and easy-to-read. People are more likely to scroll past posts that are unnecessarily drawn out or confusing. Also, using eye-catching and aesthetically-pleasing images in every post will help drive interaction. People are drawn to quality content.
- Drive engagement by asking questions in your posts. Asking your audience to answer fun and thoughtful questions will increase the amount of comments on your post, which will boost the status of your post. Invite consumers to events, and don’t be afraid to ask for comments, follows, and shares! Sharing is hugely helpful in getting your posts on newsfeed, so make sure your content is engaging and share-worthy.
- To increase visibility of a post you can pin it to the top of your page. This will ensure that this post gets more traffic, because it will be the first thing people see when they visit your page. Remember to change pinned posts regularly – there is nothing worse than visiting a page with a post that is months old and out of date.
- Consider embedding Facebook posts so that they will appear on your company website or blog. This is another great way to encourage more traffic to a post.
- Boosting posts on Facebook is not free, but it can be a profitable option. Facebook allows you to select an audience and set a budget, and Facebook will never charge more than the budget you set. Boosting to your page followers makes sure the people who have already chosen to Like your page stay engaged with you. You need page fans to stay engaged or they will stop seeing your posts all together. Every good Facebook ads strategy should include some boosting of page posts.
- Finally, use Facebook’s live video option! This is a way you can engage with customers in real-time. While posting regular videos on your page is effective as well, live videos get 6x as much interaction.
3. Leveraging Facebook Ads For Business Growth and Success
If you are a business on Facebook and you do not have an ad budget and/or ad plan that you are implementing every single day – you are missing the number one best opportunity to grow your business. The Facebook ads platform allows for businesses of any size and most industries to leverage very targeted audiences to build customer bases.Your ads strategy should not only be about selling; it is important to build a community that believes in you and enjoys your presence online before you try to sell to them.
Social media marketing is a long-game approach, meaning you need to be working hard today to connect with your customers to benefit you in the near and far future. If you want to be in business in the next 5-10 years or beyond – you need to invest in growing your community today. This means not everything is about promotion. I know this is tough to hear but it’s true, and it aligns with why Facebook has made these new algorithm changes.
The new Facebook algorithm can be confusing, but remember, Facebook is trying to improve the lives of its users by creating news feeds that are more personable, informative, and entertaining. You can make the most of Facebook’s new algorithm by recognizing that your Facebook page is a cornerstone of customer service for your business. Don’t be afraid to take the new algorithm in stride by making your page’s content personable, informative and engaging, as engagement is paramount for having a successful Facebook business page. These steps outlined above will help you create better relationships with your customers and maybe even build your business.
Looking to grow your presence on Facebook and leverage the true power of Facebook ads to grow your business? Contact us to discuss our full service social media strategy and management services and how we can help you grow!