You may have already heard, if not noticed, that Facebook recently changed its algorithm to align with their 2018 company goals.
On January 11, 2018, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO and co-founder, announced Facebook would be changing its news feed algorithm to prioritize content and interactions from “friends, family and groups.” This means that there would be less public content, like posts from businesses, brands and media, and the public content that is shown should encourage meaningful interactions between people.
Zuckerberg says Facebook has “…a responsibility to make sure our services aren’t just fun to use, but also good for people’s well-being.” As justification for the change, businesses are going to have to work harder than ever to gain their customers’ attention on the platform. You can read his full announcement here.
So, what does this mean for your business?
As the changes start to take effect, you will most likely see a significant decrease in your organic reach on your company Facebook page. Since users will most likely be spending less and less time on Facebook, it will be that much harder to increase organic reach and ultimately miss a potential client.
While nobody knows exactly the true impact of this change as of yet, there are a few ways you can meet this change head-first:
Interact more with people
In Zuckerberg’s announcement, he emphasized “meaningful interaction” will be the content that will show up most on timelines. This means, those comments and interactions are essential. Pages whose posts prompt conversations between friends will see less of an effect. So your brand should be creating quality content focused on sparking conversations between users.
Avoid “Engagement-bait”
We’ve all seen and even posted engagement-bait. It’s the posts that directly try and make the readers interact with your post, such as “COMMENT if you love cherry pie!” or something similar. Facebook will demote these types of posts because it isn’t creating a meaningful conversation or interaction between the user and your brand. It is simply goading.
Increase Your Advertising Budget
Since organic reach will be taking a nose-dive, it is more important than ever to be proficient at Facebook Advertising. It will be more important than ever to know how to target the right audiences to ensure your advertising dollars stretch further.
If you’re unsure about the new Facebook Algorithm and making the most of your company Facebook page, contact your sales consultant to ask about CreativeOne’s program Social Media Elite. In that program, we drive traffic to your website through your email list and social media pages. Call us today to get started.