Before you start jumping ship on Facebook Business Pages, we’ve set out to give you full insight of the situation and 6 FREE STRATEGIES to continue to get your business in front of your target audience despite never-ending updates.
What’s happened?
One of our big focus areas for 2018 is making sure the time we all spend on Facebook is time well spent.We built…
Posted by Mark Zuckerberg on Thursday, 11 January 2018
To put it simply, what Zuckerberg is saying is users are posting less about their own lives and instead are using Facebook passively, e.g watching videos and scrolling with lack of interaction between users.
Why did it happen?
Fake News & An UnHappy Mark Zuckerberg
Folllowing the 2016 US Presidential election, which was a catalyst for ‘Fake News’, it was reported that Russian sources had bought up to 3,000 Facebook ads to stir up the election and influence the opinion of voters. So Facebook decided it was time to prioritise news from trustworthy sources.
Mark is unhappy that personal moments are being crowded out by business posts. He wants the time users spend on the platform to be ‘time well spent’ and promote meaningful social interactions rather than spreading fake news (undermines Facebook posts credibility) and users passively browsing.
How will it affect my business?
Don’t be surprised if you start to see your organic reach on your posts decline over the coming months, focus is moving more and more toward prioritising the content that users are reacting to and that encourages interaction within the Facebook platform, it has also been suggested that advertising costs will rise as Zuckerberg seeks to fill newsfeeds with quality content and discourage spam.
But there is hope! If you don’t want to join the graveyard of Facebook business pages then take a look at the latest strategies below.“Are you sure Facebook is still worth my time?”
Mark Schaefer – “Don’t panic. The Facebook announcement is no big deal.”
Even the experts have said that Facebook is still a valuable avenue for business despite the biggest change ever to the News Feed. These 4 experts are remaining calm, so should you.
When will I start seeing it affect my organic reach?
Very soon, if not already. Facebook stated that further hits to organic reach would be noticed in the next few months. However, let’s not focus too much on when it will happen but instead what your business can do TODAY to prepare for it now.
Top 6 Strategies to Combat the News Feed Changes
1. Messenger bots: Talk to customers directly
At the moment only a few companies are taking advantage of messenger bots.
✔️ Higher open rate than email.
✔️ CTR could reach up to 50% or more.
✔️ 1.2 billion users.
✔️ Acts as a 24-hour customer service platform.
2. Facebook groups: Create highly engaged groups
According to Buffer, 1 billion people use Facebook groups. By using this feature it allows your customers to feel part of a private community and encourages interaction on a personal level.
✔️ High level of engagement, businesses can receive instant feedback from customers.
✔️ Build genuine relationships.
✔️ Unaffected by the news feed changes.
3. Live video:
Generating conversation with your audience is the secret to ranking higher in the news feed. Live video does just that, more often it will produce in-depth discussions in the comments section, which Facebook favours.
✔️ On average live videos receive six times as many interactions as regular videos.
✔️ BIG opportunity – Only 31% of businesses use Live Video.
✔️ FREE to use.
4. Segment ‘False Fans’:
You may have ‘False Fans’ who like your page but are completely uninterested in your content. These could be bots, unhappy customers who forgot to unlike your page or accidental clicks.
Examine your customer profiles and use the News Feed Targeting tool to choose specific demographics and interests to target a niche audience who will find your post super relevant.✔️ Hyper specific – you can be as niche as you want, even targeting down to their favourite TV show.
✔️ Increase your CTR – audiences who have been targeted right are more likely to click-through to your content.
✔️ It’s FREE.
5. Understand the new News Feed Values:
Print out a copy of these values and staple them to the wall. These need to be ingrained in every businesses mind to ensure that they succeed on Facebook.
At all costs, do not fall into the ‘engagement baiting’ trap when looking at the new rules. For example:
“Tag a mate …”
“SHARE this if you agree that…”
Instead, follow these rules from Buffer and create meaningful content that will generate genuine conversation.
6. See first:
Encourage your audience to select the ‘See first’ option for your page. This will prioritize your posts above any businesses that have this un-checked in your customer’s feed.
But be fast about it; users only get to select 30 people or pages to ‘See first’. Don’t let other businesses take your spot on your customer’s feed, follow this guide on how to set up ‘See first’.Why did we leave out ads as a strategy?
It’s likely that some businesses would prefer to jump ship and start throwing money at Facebook ads. Ads are still a great method to reach your audience, but it’s quite apparent that organic reach is not altogether dead.
Before giving up and going straight to ads, have a go at learning the ropes of the new algorithm. You’ll find that after a few months your content could be of much higher quality and that you’ll be in a better position to try out ads.
By Simon Griffiths