Facebook Made Big Changes to its News Feed in January 2018
In January 2018, Facebook announced major changes to its news feed. Facebook’s news feed algorithm has been tweaked to prioritize posts that promote “meaningful” person-to-person interaction between family and friends over posts from Facebook pages and businesses.
This means Facebook will show less organic (unpaid) content from company pages. In the past, it was common - and strategic - for businesses to share videos, articles, and posts that linked back to their website. This strategy helped drive visitors back to your website. Unfortunately, with the recent changes, this will no longer be as effective as it once was.
What Types of Content Will Now Be Shown in the News Feed?
Content from friends & personal profiles
Posts from friends & family that seek advice/recommendations
Content that generates comments
News articles & video that get people discussing and interacting with each other
Note the key words here: News articles & video that prompt people to discuss and interact. This does not mean posting videos and articles about your company or industry or start promoting yes/no questions to receive comments.
Instead, to try and maintain current levels of organic reach on Facebook, businesses should post about topics that create back-and-forth discussion between people. For Company Pages, this means comments are now more valuable than likes and, unfortunately, the organic reach of Business Pages will decline (again).
How Should Your Business Respond?
1. Publish Less Content
Stop linking to your company website in posts and post less content. Use other platforms, like Twitter or LinkedIn, to share articles and links to blog articles. Consider posting more on Instagram, if that fits into your strategy.
2. Utilize Live Video (via Facebook Live)
Facebook Live will continue to be effective, as Facebook seems likely to continue focusing on real-time, live video. Consider offering live Q&A sessions, interviews (perhaps with customers) or other insights that users find interesting and will want to discuss.
3. Use Facebook Ads
Consider using one or more of Facebook’s many advertising products. It does not appear that recent news feed changes will affect how Facebook ads perform. There are several different options and strategies of advertising on Facebook, and they have been quite effective (as evidenced in the revenue growth seen by Facebook’s advertising business). We can expect to see more businesses investing in Facebook advertising campaigns.
In Conclusion
Simply put, content from Facebook Pages will be shown to less people, less frequently, as Facebook attempts to bring people closer together. In his announcement, CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote:
“At its best, Facebook has always been about personal connections. By focusing on
bringing people closer together -- whether it's with family and friends, or around
important moments in the world -- we can help make sure that Facebook is time well
spent."
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