January 2015
This past January, the social network Facebook updated its algorithm, yet again. This update will force businesses to tweak their strategies to adapt to the change. Luckily, there is still a good value to be found on Facebook pages for brands. The hardest challenge with the new Facebook algorithm is getting the brands content to appear on Facebook’s newsfeed. Based off of a consumer feedback survey Facebook gave its current users, it has decided to demote the importance of text status updates from companies in Facebook’s newsfeed, rather than promotional content. People saw many pages organic posts as too promotional and clogging their newsfeed. Facebook’s newsfeed update will now be monitoring volume and content controls for promotional posts, in an effort to get people to see more of what they want.
This may seem like a huge obstacle, but for a good brands page Facebook’s algorithm update can easily be worked past. Typically, a brand using a page as a cornerstone of its online persona is a much more successful page. People enjoy facebook newsfeed high-quality content posts and don’t view them as ads clogging their timeline. The discovery and communication that happens when users find your brand’s page is all about the wording. Don’t use Facebook as a publishing service! Create a brand personality and post based upon interests of the brands target market.
BAD content ideas:
- Posts that are solely promotional and push audience to make a purchase
- Posts that reuse the content they already use in their ads
- Posts on Facebook’s newsfeed that persuade viewers to enter promotions for no valid reason
- Posts with the link inside the text status update itself
GOOD content ideas:
- Posts with “link-share” with all link metadata pulled in is favored by Facebook’s new algorithm
- Posts that target a specific audience with predictable reach
- Build an e-mail list that will help build relationships with fans outside of Facebook, where they can subscribe to a newsletter
- Posts engaging fan involvement on the Facebook newsfeed
- Post videos directly into Facebook, Facebook is favoring videos using their new Facebook video player over ones hosted at YouTube or Instagram
- Post all types of posts on other social platforms to see which are getting the best engagement, then share this on Facebook
- Post popular, user-friendly content and be aware of trending topics.
- Use Facebook Ads to achieve business objectives. Organic distribution is decreasing so book ads to reach the same levels of engagement. Warning: always create new ads and never repost old ones, Facebook will penalize you.
- Encourage your team to engage with brands content on Facebook.
Social media is always goingto be evloving. Facebook started off as an online social network where people could keep up with friends and family. By rolling out the use of pages for promotional use there has been some growing pains with how users have reacted to publishers.
The long story short is, organic distribution is decreasing so create ads to reach the same levels of engagement. Use Facebook Ads to achieve business objectives, but post interesting content for organic reach as users like to read interesting content.
Overall, Facebook’s newsfeed update provides marketers with one more challenge to adapt to. With the proper knowledge and tactics, your brand can easily adapt and will still benefit from its social media presence. Use social media to help extend your brand personality and build further relationships with consumers.
