3 Ways To Survive The Facebook Changes
Focusing on your organic following will allow your brand to flourish despite Mark Zuckerberg’s announcements
It’s been two weeks since Mark Zuckerberg announced the big changes coming to Facebook. As businesses are finishing digesting the news and the initial shock is dying down, we are having more and more people ask how they can “beat” the algorithm and be seen. While it will take months to fully see the effect of the changes to the Facebook news feed, there are some things you can do to maintain visibility among the changes.
First things first, what are the changes?
Mark Zuckerberg announced Facebook will be changing the way it does business and shifting its focus to “emphasize social interactions”. But let’s break this down.
He announced the changes will be actualized on the Facebook News Feed. People’s news feeds will see fewer items and what you do see will be from more trustworthy sources. Facebook is going to shrink the News Feed by about 20%, and be checking sources more carefully.
This does not mean advertisements will stop on Facebook, as this how Facebook sustains itself. However, ads may become more expensive in order to limit ads appearing on News Feeds. Further, it does not mean your business will no longer be seen on Facebook. While the changes appear to be detrimental to businesses, they may prove to benefit small businesses! People may spend more time on Facebook if their News Feeds aren’t cluttered, and you may reach real people who really want your product or service!
Your business can survive the changes, and investing in these three things will help:
1. Original Content
While it is becoming easier and easier to purchase stock photos and content, and refurbish them for your own purposes, this will become less effective on Facebook. Content that appears to be stock content could be labelled as misrepresentative (“Fake News”), and the impressions will suffer.
Focusing on creating organic content that gives an accurate look at your business and its endeavors will not only be more interesting, but increase your chances of being seen!
2. Advertising
Second, the need for investing in Facebook ads will not diminish. Facebook ads will continue to be an effective way to increase your reach, and hopefully with these changes you may even see better results! With the appearance of less ads in an individual’s news feed, they may be more likely to click ads they do see that are more specifically targeted at them.
3. Your Organic Following
365 Day Media Group has always placed organic growth at the top of our goals and priorities, despite the “trend” that money talks on Social Media. Your organic following are the people that will actually convert to sales offline. They are the people who will follow your brand on new platforms as the trends change. And they are the people who will engage with your content! In other words, your organic following is where you can achieve BRAND LOYALTY!
While running a lot of ads, offering incentives for follows, and even our biggest social media don’t: buying followers, may appear to bring your numbers up and see growth, these are temporary “fixes”. Some of these individuals may become loyal followers, but relying on these techniques for growth won’t sustain the Facebook changes.
Target your organic following with your content. Make content that makes them want to engage, and as a result you’ll show up in their friends’ news feeds as a trustworthy source!
Facebook is constantly evolving, and this is scary! But don’t let this overwhelm you. Focus on creating original content that engages your audience, and when you have something that showcases your company perfectly, pay to advertise it! Lastly, if this all feels like too much time and research to stay on top of, let us help! We are constantly researching and evolving to stay on top of changes, and make sure your social media grows – 365 days a year.
This week’s blog was written by our Digital Marketing Manager & Photographer Brynn Featherstone, a recent graduate of the University of Victoria majoring in Psychology, with a minor in Business.