It seems like every few months, Facebook rolls out another set of changes to keep us on our toes. And it only makes sense to do so in our ever-evolving environment. Between fake news accusations, politically polarizing articles, and generic marketing posts filling up your feed, Facebook is realizing how little people are actually interacting with each other. That’s why this January, Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook will be putting user’s families and friends first by filling news feeds with meaningful content first.
So what does that mean for your business’ presence on Facebook? How will you survive this latest round of Facebook changes?
It has become clear that the key to visibility in your audience’s news feed is genuine engagement. Facebook is looking to have people spend more meaningful time on their site instead of mind-numbingly scrolling through while you’re watching primetime TV.
Here are some ideas to help you survive Facebook’s latest updates:
- Start to provide useful content to your audience. Don’t just post to post; really provide them with information that your audience could use. They are your target after all, you should already be aware of how they will benefit by reading your post.
- Heavy posting of sales pitch after sales pitch has been a no-no for a while now. So, if you’re still doing it – just stop it right now. No excuses.
- Craft your posts to generate discussion – meaningful discussion. This means posting less frequently and with meaningful posts. Cluttering posts will never get seen in news feeds with Facebook’s new algorithm.
- Stop posting engagement bait. Facebook is still cracking down on this behavior and it could result in, you guessed it, not appearing in news feeds.
- Video is still king when it comes to engagement, so if you are not taking advantage of posting videos or hosting Facebook Live events, consider putting the effort forth to make those a priority.
- Set aside a budget for Facebook. Organic posts to reach new audiences are going by the wayside. Focus a budget on ad spending to bring new audiences into the fold. Then use your time to create organic posts that skillfully and genuinely build a community around your brand.
While we know things may evolve again over the next year, it is vitally important that you are keeping up-to-date with changes coming from Facebook, and any other social media platform for that matter. It’s not ok to simply have a presence and not adapt to the changes; otherwise your page becomes ineffective.
Continue to stay current on Facebook’s initiatives and, more importantly, adapt to them and you will be doing right by your brand.
Sara Husted is a partner, owner and digital media mixologist at Think Big Marketing, LLC. She helps businesses and coaches streamline their online marketing through social media strategy and management. For a FREE 15-minute Discovery Session, click here!