More News Feed changes from Facebook
I know it seems painful. But, it’s actually a good thing. Facebook is, once again, making changes to the algorithm that determines what shows up in your News Feed. They announced the changes recently in this article: News Feed FYI: Balancing Content from Friends and Pages.
Noooo, not agaaaaaiiiin!
Don’t panic. We want people to enjoy themselves Facebook.
And the new algorithm will help it become even more of a community where you can like, share and be liked and shared.
So this is a good thing?
Yes! It means your customers will stick around the Facebook party, instead of jumping ship like passengers aboard the Titanic. And yes, it does mean you’ll have to make some changes to the way you think about your Pages. Think of it as an opportunity to outsmart your competition.
In order to keep people hanging out, posting selfies, and generally keeping in touch with far-away (and next door) friends and family, Facebook is constantly evaluating the News Feed content to find the right balance of posts from:
- Friends and family
- Businesses
- Celebrities
- Local organizations you care about
The Three Curses. (Oops. We meant changes.)
The most recent changes to the algorithm they use to determine what you see next comes in three ways:
- “Relaxing” the rule that didn’t show multiple posts in a row from a single source. This helps those who have liked few pages or have few friends posting, so that they have more content to look at.
- Friends and Family posts are ranked more important that that of businesses and organizations. Because people often have so many friends, business and organization posts prevent them from hearing from their friends.
- “Stories” about other friends liking or commenting on a post are going away, or at least falling to the end of the line.
The new order of things
In the past, all posts (and stories about posts) were pretty equal, this is the new order (sort of):
- FRIENDS AND FAMILY
- FRIENDS AND FAMILY
- FRIENDS AND FAMILY
- FRIENDS AND FAMILY
- FRIENDS AND FAMILY
- Businesses and organizations you care about
- Liking and commenting “stories”
What this all means for you
It’s a mixed bag.
So how will this impact your brand on Facebook? The new algorithm builds a better community where the people your care about (your customers!) can like and share with their friends and family.
That community is the point of social media. If Facebook loses sight of this, their whole network collapses, and something entirely new will take its place.
Here is our take on the recent changes.
NEGATIVE AFFECTS:
- Our posts have just been booted (nearly) to the end of the line.
- Our Facebook results may show a drastic decrease in post reach.
OPPORTUNITIES:
- Quality content makes a difference.
- Post things your customers want to share!
- Ads are more important than ever.
- Use ads to target by age, location, interest, and Pages people like.
- Ads are measurable and help you focus on ROI
Take Advantage of the Opportunity
Use Facebook changes to your benefit.
This could be your chance to make some meaningful changes to your customer approach and existing ad campaigns. Have questions? Give us a call at 918.518.6576 or contact us here.