Digital MarketingWhat does the Facebook shift back to personal moments mean for businesses?
January 19, 2018
Recently, Mark Zuckerberg made an official announcement on Facebook discussing a shift in focus for the organization. Facebook wants to bring meaningful social interactions back to the News Feed, which means major changes for business pages.
“I'm changing the goal I give our product teams from focusing on helping you find relevant content to helping you have more meaningful social interactions”
Mark Zuckerberg, Founder of Facebook
What will this mean for businesses who rely on Facebook marketing to help drive business?
Business Page Posts Will be Scored Differently Than Posts From Friends:
Right now, the average post reach for a business page is around 2-5 percent. This new algorithm is estimated to reduce that reach by around 80 percent. This means that the natural reach to your page followers is going to drop drastically.
Time Spent on Facebook is Expected to Go Down:
By making this shift, time spent on Facebook should go down because the user will be seeing meaningful interactions quicker. This also means that time spent on Facebook will be more valuable.
Businesses will need to maximize their messages by creating content that sparks a discussion rather than a passive “like” or other reaction. Facebook perceiving the time spent on their platform as more valuable leads me to my next point.
Anticipate Ad Costs to Go Up:
Companies will be forced to enter the advertising market space, which means Facebook can increase advertising prices.
Right now, businesses can enter the advertising space with as little as $5 a day. With the potential of more businesses needing to “pay to play,” I am excited to see what changes Facebook will make to boosted posts as well as to traditional advertising campaigns. Inventory will be bought up more quickly with the increase of advertisers and decrease in expected time on site, so this is definitely something to watch closely.
Spending Extended Amounts of Time on Facebook is Detrimental to Your Health:
Facebook knows this and wants to help combat this. Zuckerberg alludes to extensive research on this subject matter and wants Facebook to be good for their users well-being.
News feeds have been bogged down with videos and fake news for quite some time, which tend to make individuals feel isolated and more depressed. The current News Feed has also created what I call “scrolling zombies” (we are all guilty of this): you are sitting on the couch, not engaging with the people in your home and your head is buried in your phone while you endlessly scroll through your News Feed.
Facebook states that when you engage with content from people who you care about, you are more happy, feel more connected and it leads to long-term happiness and health, which is exactly what they are going to try to rebuild with this News Feed shift.
Engagement Baiting Will (Finally) be Punished:
Promising an incentive for a “like” or a “share” is a way to create artificial engagement and Facebook will be putting a stop to this. Continuing to engage in this tactic will result in a demotion of your post rank.
This is a tactic that we have discouraged our clients from taking part in. By posting quality content and supplementing with strategically advertised posts to your ideal client, you should receive quality engagement and even visits to your site!
The Way We Engage is Expected to Change:
Passively “liking” or reacting to a post will be a thing of the past. Facebook is looking to show users posts that result in discussion. This means that business content strategies will have to change as well. You will want to focus on engaging topics that create a discussion with follow-up replies.
Users Can Always Opt Into Seeing Posts From Your Page at The Top of Their News Feed:
This has been a feature that users can take advantage of for quite some time. Expect to see a resurgence of pages asking their followers to “opt in.” I can see this option being abused by business pages early on, which could go against the “well-being” approach Facebook is taking to users’ News Feeds, so I anticipate this option being revisited by Facebook sooner than later.
As a user, I am happy to see my News Feed change back to meaningful engagement. This has been a shift users have been wanting for quite some time.
Justine Hedge, Digital Marketing Manager at cb{d}
As a small business, this is a time to readjust your approach to Facebook. Time spent on social media means time that could have been spent on a different advertising platform. Posting out of habit will no longer cut it with the updated News Feed. Would your brand benefit from creating more engaging posts that demand a more intense, real-time management approach?
Further Reading
Goodbye, Facebook News Feed: 9 Things Publishers Need to Know About the News Feed Armageddon
