All marketers freaked out when Facebook made the announcement that they will change the New Feed algorithm. AGAIN.
Well, of course we freaked out. Every time a big platform on which a marketer (myself included) relies on changes something, you can hear their strategies tear into millions of pieces.
And this got me to my belief: The right thing to do is creating a multi channel/platform strategy, not relying on a single one.
But let’s get back to Facebook’s News Feed and see why this change isn’t so bad actually.
In fact, it’s a really good change for marketers. Bear with me, I’m explaining everything below.
1. Your content will make the difference
Do you remember when Bill Gates came with the idea “Content is King”? From that time, every content marketer uses this statement as a tattoo worthy one. Now apply this idea to your online strategy.
- What you write on a blog is a type of content
- Display ads can be also be a type of content
- Tweets are another type of content
- Instagram Stories are different from what we used before, but they’re also a type of content
So everything you put on the internet, weather it’s for organic reach or paid, it’s a type of content: text, photo, video, graphic… everything.
Now let’s get back to the Facebook News Feed change. When you share something on Facebook you want people to react to it, right? Especially when we talk about marketing and brands. You are sharing it not just because somebody told you to do so. You believe that sharing great stuff will make your brand look cool, that people will engage with it and you will be a winner in the marketing game.
But not anymore. Facebook simply said it in their press release that you have to create content where people are engaging with it
Page posts that generate conversation between people will show higher in News Feed.
And if you are a marketer you must know that this will be a real challenge.You will have to work A LOT on that specific content.
So when you want to publish a photo or a video on Facebook you should think about the following two things:
- Whether it will create a conversation
- Whether people will react to it or not
That means that you will have to work more than before if you want to create some engagement. And yes, this might mean a full 8 hour day work for one single photo on Facebook.
Why? Because it’s a long term shoot. If you create one single visual today that will bring you 10 likes and 2 comments, tomorrow you post a video that will bring you 7 likes and 3 comments and the day after that you create a gif that will bring you 13 likes and 5 comments, it will show your community that your content is engaging enough to trust you and react to your posts.
What are the top factors Facebook is looking at when we talk about engagement?
In the photo below you will see what is high-priority to Facebook’s new algorithm:
- Time: When the content is published and how much time people spend on it
- Engagement: Number of comments/reactions on the posts (also multiple replies)
- Private conversation: Sharing a link over Messenger
So back to our idea (or better said – Bill’s) “Content is King”.
This (the change) will give more importance to content and Social Media marketers should learn not just how to work with social media platforms but also how to create engaging content.
2. Experiment everything
Now is the time when you have to experiment everything.
And when I say everything, I mean everything you have on Facebook: Facebook live, Facebook notes, Facebook messenger, Facebook Groups, Facebook Events and Facebook Instant Articles. Oh, and let’s not forget about Facebook Advertising (but this is another topic we will talk about in another post).
Why do you have to experiment everything?
Because this will show you which of the pieces of content you post bring you the most reactions on your Page.
It’s not about how many likes your Facebook Page got, it’s about how many people who liked your Page engage with your content.
But don’t get caught in the idea that you have to analyze your public engagement, such as likes, comments, shares on posts.
Facebook is measuring your impact on their platform.
That means that they are looking at how long is taking you to reply to a message in your inbox. Or how many reactions you got in your Facebook groups.
So to be more clear, you have to take a closer look at everything you do on Facebook.
Even if it’s something public like a Facebook Photo, Facebook Live or something private, a comment in your Facebook Group or a fast reply on your Messenger.
Another reason why you have to experiment is because when Facebook is launching new features they are looking at how Facebook Pages interact with them. And I believe that Facebook is pushing these features to everybody so they can analyze people’s behavior.
Experimenting new features will allow you to understand your followers’ behavior.
Maybe they want more videos or more Facebook Notes from your brand. And you don’t know when you try it, experiment it and then measure the results you got.
Or maybe you want to experiment to buy Facebook stocks.
3. Work on your notification strategy
Before you quit this article because you read this headline, please give me 30 seconds and continue reading it to understand what I’m saying about “notification strategy”
What’s the first thing you check when you login on Facebook? Be honest. And I will also be honest and answer this to everyone reading my blog: I’m checking my notifications.
Yes, these little simple red bullets with numbers in them. Why? Because this is my behavior. Over time, Facebook has created this user behavior so every time we log in, we check our notifications. Even if we talk about notifications on our timeline, on our Friend Requests or Messages. These are all some kind of alerts that are making the user click on them.
Also, these notifications are a great strategy that mobile apps are also using. Just unlock your phone and see how many notifications you have from before you started reading this article.
And I bet you will check them.
Because this is our behavior.
Some may call it – FOMO – Fear Of Missing Out. But I call it simple – our behavior.
Now let’s get back to Facebook.
When you create content that people love to interact with, you can ask them to check the Following button on your Page and select “ON”. That way, they can be notified whenever you post something on Facebook.
And this gives you, the brand, a very big responsibility, because they trust you enough to give you exclusivity to their attention.
So you’d better create some awesome content for them!
Also you must know that there are 2 types of content that brands can create which notify users:
Facebook Live and Facebook Groups.
Even Facebook has mentioned in their press release about this:
Live videos get six times as many interactions as regular videos, on average. Many creators who post videos on Facebook prompt discussion among their followers.
So this gets me to the second point of this article: experiment everything. Even if you have never tried Facebook Live so far, you have to do it now.
4. Let’s bring some money in the game
Do you know that Facebook’s promoted posts are still display advertising? They are – only that they use Facebook as the inventory where the ads are displayed. They look like banner ads and behave like banner ads.
It’s just a matter of where the content is published and promoted.
So why is this chapter relevant for our topic? Because of Facebook is telling you in short words:
If you still want your content/brand/product to be published, but you don’t know how to create engaging content, then use our promoted posts.
That means you gotta bring up some money in your content.
If you are not good in content creation then start working on your content distribution.
It’s so simple. You don’t have to be an awesome content creator and you don’t have to use all the features if you still want your content to be seem.
All you have to do is boost your content to your target audience.
That’s about it! If you want to learn more about Facebook Ads and how to boost your content to your target audience, I’m recommending you to check out Jon Loomer’s blog.
Conclusion
So what should Facebook Page admins and Social Media marketers do following recent News Feed changes?
Matt Navarra posted this photo on his Twitter feed from Facebook’s News Feed webinar for publishers:
- Promote meaningful content and interaction
- Focus on your audience
- Avoid “engagement bait”
These are my 2 cents on Facebook’s new changes in its News Feed.
And remember that Content and Engagement go together just like peanut butter and jelly! Only you must know the recipe first!
Now let me know in comments section below which one of these strategies you plan to use and why.
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