Last week, Facebook unveiled one of its biggest news feed algorithm changes to date. They announced they would be focused on prioritising content from friends and family over posts from companies.
“As we roll this out,” Zuckerberg wrote, “You’ll see less public content like posts from businesses, brands and media. And the public content you see more will be held to the same standards- it should encourage meaningful interactions between people.”
While publishers may be panicked by the loss of Facebook’s referral traffic, media buyers think brands will be relatively unscathed by the algorithm change. (credit: Digiday).
Advertisers can embrace Facebook’s new algorithm as an opportunity to reach customers with meaningful interactions by considering the following:
1) Develop a winning social strategy
Brands should review their Facebook strategies for 2018 and rethink the types of content they plan to publish, ensuring that content they do choose to publish is highly relevant and engaging for their audience.
This should include focusing less on their own point of view and more on what their audience cares about. Delving deeper into data and insights already gained from previous campaigns will be crucial for advertisers to determine who their fans are, what makes them tick and how to build a set of engaged customers.
2) Encourage customers to follow your Facebook Page
Facebook users will still be able to see posts and updates from their favourite pages by selecting the ‘See First’ option in their news feed preferences.
Brands shouldn’t be shy about asking customers to follow their page on Facebook and can also remind loyal followers about the ‘See First’ option to ensure content lands on their newsfeed.
3) Creative content is key
Facebook is forcing people to create relevant quality content which sparks conversations between users.
Advertisers should be thinking about how they can communicate their messages in an authentic way and one which encourages comments from their friends and family.
Brands thinking harder and better about the creative and content they produce will help them to harness the power of social influence and build a community that wants to engage with them.
4) Start using Facebook Live videos
Videos are still favoured under the new algorithm, but live videos will also become increasingly important. In his announcement, Zuckerberg wrote that “live videos often lead to discussion among viewers on Facebook—in fact, live videos on average get six times as many interactions as regular videos.”
Advertisers should be thinking about how they can invest their time into posting live videos on Facebook. This is one type of content that will perform extremely well under the new algorithm, so advertisers should be paying attention to it.
5) Increase your ad budget
In recent times, organic reach has slowly declined and Facebook has become a pay-to-play network but Facebook’s new algorithm will mean advertisers should be prepared to become even smarter about how they are choosing to distribute their advertising spend.
Targeting the right audiences with the right messaging will become even more crucial over the coming months and advertisers must be prepared to have a watertight strategy which delivers high-quality campaigns so that they can get the best return from their spend.
Facebook’s new algorithm will be a game-changer for businesses. It’s going to put the way brands choose to communicate with their audiences at the forefront of their minds and provide audiences with valuable content that generates genuine interest.
If you would like to discuss how Adglow can help you to craft a winning social advertising strategy, contact us here
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