The new Facebook algorithm update prioritizes content and posts from friends and family members over company organization posts. This means that content generated by companies will shrink on your News Feed, and content generated and shared/discussed by friends and family will be on the rise. To summarize, content that generates interaction (i.e. comments) will be more visible on your News Feed over posts that only generate reactions (i.e. likes).
We expect that business Pages will be impacted by these changes. There is speculation as to the scale of impact these changes will make, and we have tried to put together the most influential changes, and how you – as a business – can make these changes work in your Page’s favor.
Facebook states the reasoning for this algorithm change is to increase people’s happiness and well-being. Mark Zuckerberg intends to make Facebook a more productive site which will create meaningful connections and discussions. The new algorithm will continue to show content based on wider trends across their network, implying that ‘organic’ reach is not dead. Businesses will need to pay more attention and utilize these trends more often in order to maintain their content visibility. According to Facebook, this will not impact the proliferation of ads in News Feeds because Ads have a separate algorithm. Obviously, this means the cost of running a promotional advertisement on Facebook may also increase. If the amount of spending for ads does increase, this will likely drive up the cost due to demand of other businesses looking to improve their content visibility on Facebook.
To ensure your content is still meeting necessary content standards for News Feeds, there are several steps you can take:
- Create informative, interesting content that will produce meaningful interactions and motivate users to share your content
- Reach the right people at the right time – quality over quantity
- Go live, create groups, utilize platforms within Facebook
- Measure your success/failures
Remember, these are only predictions of the new fixes, nothing is set in stone, and the next few months will be a time of adjustment and trial-and-error in order for individuals, businesses, and Facebook themselves to understand how this change will affect users and whether or not this change is desired.
We hope this helps you navigate through these changes. Being able to utilize the new News Feed is the key to social media success. We are right beside you tackling these new approaches and finding new best practices online!
Sources
https://digiday.com/media/theyre-saying-f-publishers-media-winners-losers-facebooks-feed-purge/
https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/01/news-feed-fyi-bringing-people-closer-together/
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352250X15002535
https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2017/06/our-first-communities-summit-and-new-tools-for-group-admins/