Facebook News Feed Update
Are you a small business owner wondering what's going on with Facebook's News Feed Change? Here are some facts about what happened, why it happened, and what to do to now.
I'm hoping that, by now, all of you who use Facebook for your business are aware there was a “major change” a couple of weeks ago. I’m also hoping you realize that it will bring the majority of pages’ organic reach (the number of people who see your post in their news feed without advertising), which was hovering around 2%, to around 0%.
Yep, you read that right. I said 0%. That’s why many in the industry are calling it “Facebook Zero”. If you’re confused about what this all means to your bottom line, keep reading and I’ll try to clarify it for you.
Why did the Facebook news feed change?
Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s CEO, states his intentions in the opening sentence of his statement. Zuckerberg says “One of our big focus areas for 2018 is making sure the time we all spend on Facebook is time well spent.” And what does “well-spent time” mean to Zuckerberg and Facebook? In short, it means more time with posts from friends and family and less time with posts from businesses, brands, and media.
What did Facebook change in the news feed?
Zuckerberg tells us clearly that “…we’re making a major change to how we build Facebook”. The focus is to encourage “meaningful interactions between people”. That means when you post something to your Business Page, it will need to be highly engaging, with many likes, comments, and shares to friends on Facebook in order to get organic reach. What does Facebook consider “highly engaging”? Think Justin Bieber, The Bible, Lady Gaga, Manchester United, and so on. On the positive side though, you can also expect to see less and less of the annoying click bait and fake news posts.
How will the change to the news feed effect me?
If you rely on Facebook’s organic reach to help connect you with prospects, increase brand awareness, communicate with your customers, or publicize your event, you’re going to need a new plan. Even paid ads on Facebook are changing. You can expect the price to advertise to go up. Facebook Groups, on the other hand, will probably do better with the changes. Since the nature of Groups is about engagement, if you have a healthy, active group, you should be able to see more interaction on your page.
What now?
Despite the planned changes, you shouldn’t just stop posting to Facebook. Why? Because it still has almost 2 billion users. And people will still be looking at your online presence, so you want to maintain a high-quality page.
Post Less Often
Even though you probably shouldn’t completely stop posting to Facebook, you should post less often. Try to determine which post types have worked best in the past and when you do post, use those.
Don't be a Sharecropper
Then take the time you would have been using to create Facebook posts and run your page, and spend it working on your website instead. On Facebook, you’re a sharecropper. On your webpage, you’re a landowner. Spend your time planting in your own field, not someone else’s.
The business owners who take action now to respond to this challenge will find themselves ahead of the competition. You'll need to revise your Facebook marketing strategy and increase the impact of your website. You may also want to take another look at spending more energy and advertising on other platforms.
If you need some assistance, please get in touch at [email protected] or on my website. And if you found this information helpful, please pass it on!