We have barely got back to work after the winter holidays, and we’ve been surprised by a momentous move made by Facebook™: the social media giant is yet again changing the algorithm for the news feed. The change is designed to favour posts created by friends and show them higher and more prominently in the users’ newsfeed, to the detriment of posts shared by business pages.
The worldwide community of entrepreneurs is still reeling from the shock. This is not about removing fake news or clickbait, this is a huge blow to all types of promotional content. It was difficult enough make your content visible to followers and prospects. From now on it seems to be almost impossible.
Yes, it will be extremely hard and you will experience a major setback if you keep doing things the way you used to. The world is in continuous change, and only those who know how to adapt will survive. If it would not have been this change from Facebook™, it would have been something else – but you would have still had to change your marketing strategies.
However, there are ways to survive the new Facebook™ algorithm change and continue to build a thriving community around your business. Here are a few ways to do so:
- Ask Your Fans to Opt to See Your Posts First
Each Facebook™ page offers people who like it the option to see its posts according to the default algorithm or to prioritise them over other content. By hovering the mouse button over the Liked button, they will see a drop down menu. The users should tick off “See first” under the IN YOUR NEWSFEED section and turn Notifications to On (Events, Suggested Live Videos).
With a simple capture of your computer screen, you can create a photo showing your fans how to opt to see your posts first and you can share it on your business page. People who really enjoy your posts will be grateful for the hands-on guidance, because not everybody knows about this change in settings.
- Do More Live Videos
Live videos perform better than shared videos and will always be favoured in newsfeed algorithms over other types of content. After all, if you can easily record yourself demonstrating how to use your products, you can do that during a live video session. And, instead of writing a notification, you can say it out loud to your followers.
Live video is the newly crowned king of social media content – so befriend it and take advantage of it as much as you can.
- Focus Less on Momentary Trends
Some trends last a few months, others a few days, and others just a few hours. Fame and trends are fickle friends and Facebook™ wants to weed out one-hour wonders. The new algorithm will prioritise posts not only by how many likes and comments they obtained, but also depending on WHEN they got them.
Thus, a passing trend will attract lots of likes and comments over a short period of time, but as the day progresses, they die out. Facebook™ will take note of this and will demote the post as interest for it dies out. Thus, hunting for the latest trends will no longer pay off in your content strategy.
- Be Present and Active
In past articles, we have made lots of recommendations about saving time by scheduling and automating social media posts. While this strategy still works, you should start setting aside time to spend on your Facebook™ business page, interacting with users and responding to messages and comments.
Passive posts, which are made through automation tools such as Buffer or Hootsuite, will create less engagement than posts actually made by you, with prompt replies to comments and questions. And, as a consequence, they will be less visible to your followers.
- Take Advantage of Groups
Facebook™ pages can now create groups. And guess what? The new algorithm for the news feed does not apply to groups. You can select the privacy settings of your business page group to allow anyone to join and to invite others to join.
Thus, you can create your own community within Facebook™, where all the members are interested in your products and services, and welcome your promotional messages.
Remember, for every adversity there is a way out. After all, this is what running a business means.