Post Date: April 24, 2015

Just when you think you have your Facebook marketing game on lock, the powers that be turn around and shake up their algorithm like a snowglobe.

Max Eulenstein, Facebook Product Manager and Lauren Scissors, User Experience Researcher for Facebook, recently announced that the Facebook News Feed has once again switched up its recipe for how content is displayed. As you know, this propriety blend of data that Facebook prepares determines exactly how many cat pictures you are served on any given day and how many eyes end up on your marketing efforts via your Facebook Business Page.

So what does this new algorithm mean for your carefully prepared social media marketing content?

Here are a few things you should know to better position your Facebook Business Page and what you can do to both maintain and bolster your organic views and click-through rate.

Your friends will no longer see much (if any) of your interactions or comments on business page posts.

What this means: You know how you could interact with a post on your own business page as yourself and your content would get major eyeballs in your friends’ News Feed by virtue of your personal page interaction? Example:

According to Facebook, “…Many people have told us they don’t enjoy seeing stories about their friends liking or commenting on a post. This update will make these stories appear lower down in News Feed or not at all, so you are more likely to see the stuff you care about directly from friends and the pages you have liked.”

What you can do about it: If your friends “like” your business page, they can potentially continue to see content from your interactions. This is dependent on a variety of factors, including relevance to your subscribing audience, “freshness”, and if they are subscribed for updates. Refer your friends to “like” your page through your personal Facebook account. If you are comfortable with promoting your business through your personal page, be sure to promote on that channel as well. Encourage your fans to “subscribe” to your Facebook Business Page’s updates.

News Feed content will be adjusted to give priority to “fresh” posts and trending topics.

What this means: Currently, Facebook takes the total number of likes a post receives to keep it buoyed in the upper stratosphere of your News Feed. Moving forward, Facebook will factor in WHEN people like, comment, and share a given post in addition to its total number of likes to weight its “freshness” and place it in the News Feed accordingly.

Posts that receive likes, comments, and shares quick will be given priority in the News Feed; Posts that were popular but have tapered off in likes, comments, and shares will start to drop in priority.

According to Facebook, “If people are engaging with the post right after it is posted, and not as much a few hours later, this suggests that the post was most interesting at the time it was posted, but potentially less interesting at a later date. Based on this signal it is more likely to appear higher in News Feed earlier on and lower at a later date.”

What you can do about it: Harness the power of the trending topic for your marketing purposes. Scout Facebook’s current trending topics and come up with original content to write in your website’s blog in response to recent news articles, incidents, or cultural events as it relates to your brand. Share the content via your Facebook business page and use the appropriate hashtags to engage in the trending topics and keep your content on top of its News Feed game.

You won’t believe what happens when Facebook cracks down on click-bait!

What this means: Humanity and Facebook have spoken and click-bait titles with little to no information as to where the link leads or what the article entails are on the way out.

According to Facebook, “Click-baiting is when a publisher posts links with headlines that encourages people to click to see more without offering much information about what will be viewed.”

What you can do about it: A few things can be done to ensure that your content is not labeled as bonafide click-bait. Avoid sensational titles (You won’t believe! You’ll be shocked! It’s amazing!) that do not offer a context as to what the article will cover. Another is to create quality content that users will spend time reading and not immediately back-arrow right back to their Facebook News Feed. Facebook will take length of time away from its site into account when ranking what qualifies as “click-bait”. Shared content that is deemed “click-bait” by Facebook’s algorithm will suffer the wrath of low to no priority in the News Feed, and lower organic reach. All the more reason to share quality content with your readers!

Avoid putting links in your shared link posts or status updates.

What this means: Facebook will be giving more viewership priority to status updates and link posts that do not include the link within the description. In other words:

This is good for ranking higher in the News Feed and getting more shares:

This is not currently the correct format to present your linked posts:

According to Facebook, “We will prioritize showing links in the link-format, and show fewer links shared in captions or status updates.”

What you can do about it: Avoid including text links in the text description, and instead utilize the link header, link image, and description to better communicate where the link is leading.

Will the new algorithm be benefiting your Facebook marketing strategy or hindering it? Do tell!

PS: Need a helping hand in developing a social media strategy that stays ahead of the curve? Creative Enabler creates custom Facebook social media strategies specific to your niche business and provides promotional services that won’t blacklist you as click-bait.

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