How Marketer’s Should Handle Facebook’s New Friend Preference Algorithm

by | Jan 12, 2018 | Social Media Tips

As you may or may not have heard, Facebook is going to be drastically changing user’s news feeds in the coming weeks and months.

Instead of seeing loads of content from businesses you (or Facebook thinks) you are interested in, you’ll see more posts from friends and family. Facebook deems this as a way that users will spend more time on its social network, as it will provide a more meaningful experience.

Facebook new Algorithm

The losers in all this appear to be third party brands, publishers and businesses. Their visibility will greatly decrease and become much more scaled back under the new algorithm.

So as a business what do you do? You rely heavily on Facebook to reach new viewers and potential customers? Here are a few tips:

  • Make your content as relatable as ever to your audience. Being sales-y, even in the smallest form won’t cut it anymore on the world’s biggest social network. You need to relate to your audience by putting out content that they will enjoy reading and continuing to read and engage with.
  • Your audience is now your brand ambassador. With the new algorithm, your news feed will now show more posts that your Facebook connections find engaging. Conversations stemming from live videos, celebrity posts, private group posts and other highly interactive post types will be amongst those that will be given priority. As a business you need to start putting out more of that type of content (Video, Gifs, 360 panoramic’s, etc) and not getting your viewers to just “like” the content but to really engage in it and give their opinion. If you audience engages with this content their friends will also start seeing it, which is a win for your business.
  • Incentive your fans. While this change hasn’t happened yet, utilize this time on Facebook and other digital media such as email to ask your fans to make your business page a priority page. (They can do this by choosing an option under their News feed tab.) If they do so, maybe provide them with a discount code or other incentive. This way your content will continue to be prioritized in their feed once the algorithm change goes into full effect.

While friends and family come first with this new Facebook News Feed, it doesn’t mean businesses and brands have to come last!

For more information on this big change for social media marketers contact The Interactive Imprint at 954-254-1650 or visit TheInteractiveImprint.com.