Changes Are Coming: How to Survive the Latest Facebook Update

Facebook is a part of our daily lives. As consumers, we use it to see what’s happening with friends, family, and businesses or organizations we like and respect. As marketers and business owners, we use Facebook to engage with our loyal fans and potential customers. We use it to deliver informative and entertaining blogs, post info about special offers, share gorgeous photos of destinations, fun insights into the people behind the scenes, and more. But Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg just announced a big update to the platform’s algorithm that will soon change the face of Facebook. What will this Facebook update mean for your business?

The idea behind the update is to increase meaningful interactions between people, not pages. As a user, this Facebook update means there will be less public content from publishers and businesses. As a business and hospitality marketing company, that means it will be harder for fans and potential customers to see our information. Harder, yes. Impossible, no.

It’s too early to tell the full extent this update will impact your business page. We do know that organic reach, video watch time, and referral traffic is set to decrease for business pages.  

We also know the algorithm will give more weight to public content that encourages meaningful interactions between people.

How to Work With the Facebook Update to Reach Fans and Followers

Here are a few things you can do to ensure you still appear in your followers’ news feed, and ensure that your followers’ experience with your posts is valuable to them.

Ask Your Facebook Fans/Followers to Prioritize Your Posts

It’s a big ask, but it’s important. If they don’t do this, they will not receive updates and information about specials, packages, room or property features, and more.

Ask them to:

• Go to your Facebook business page.
• Click on the “Following” tab and then select “See first” from the drop-down menu options.
• Under the same tab, under Notifications, they also need to select “On.”

Instructions for mobile users is slightly different. Ask them to:

• Go to your business page on their mobile device.
• Tap “Following.”
• Tap “See First.”
• At the top of the screen, they can also select “Get Notifications.”
  

  

  

 

 

Create Authentic Posts that Encourage Comments and Discussion

Public posts that encourage comments and discussion between fans will get more weight in news feeds. Do not bait your followers (Facebook will know, anyhow). Instead, create authentic content that people will want to comment on and furthermore discuss amongst themselves.

Facebook can tell if people enjoy your posts or not. If you make posts that are not getting any engagement, Facebook won’t show that post to any more people. However, if you get engagement such as likes, comments, and shares, Facebook will see that people are enjoying it and will show it to more people. With the new algorithm, this will be harder than ever, but also more important than ever.

Go Live

Facebook will reward you if you go live. According to Facebook, live videos get 6 times more interaction than pre-recorded videos. Live videos also prompt discussion. Take a few minutes to go live to connect with your audience. Maybe you want to give a behind-the-scenes look at an event or provide important details about an exciting offer. Don’t worry. Your live feed doesn’t have to be perfect, it just needs to be “real.”

Pay to Play

Since the algorithm will impact the organic reach of your Facebook posts, it’s likely you’ll have to pay to reach your target audience. Facebook’s ad algorithm is not expected to change in the near future, meaning that ads implemented right now will not be affected. The paid advertising is hyper-focused, and that’s certainly an advantage. You have basically ensured visibility for your business. However, even though you’ll be paying for targeted distribution, you’ll still need to make sure your content is top-notch so viewers will want to click to learn more.

If you are interested in creating Facebook ads, they should be used for creating awareness and promotion. It is predicted that with the new algorithm change, many businesses will be forced to turn to paid content. Your ads will be competing against other businesses’, so make sure your content is the best it can be.

Make Sure You Have Quality Content on Your Website, Blog and in Emails

While Facebook has been a fantastic avenue for exposure and referrals, it’s not your only one! You still have organic reach for your website and blog, other social media platforms, and direct email campaigns. Now is the time to make sure you are creating engaging and optimized content on your website (including blogs and landing pages). Make sure your website includes clear calls to action and it’s is easy for people to navigate and book during their visit. You’ll also need to strengthen your email content to ensure it’s targeted and engaging.

If you’re wondering how your website content is doing, you can enlist the help of our complimentary SEO Grader. We can tell you what Google thinks of your website with just a quick call!

When Will the Update Happen?

The timeline has been stated as weeks to months. There is no hard and fast date, and it could take months for the change to be applied across all of Facebook’s channels, but we’ll be keeping an eye on things.

How We Can Help

We understand all of this can seem a bit overwhelming. We’re here to help! If you have questions about the Facebook update or want to know how we can help you stay in front of your target audience, please contact us.

As the online world continues to change, our marketing strategies have to adapt. Q4Launch is here to help. Start the process with our free Google Analytics Analysis. This can help you create a marketing plan based on data. Once you have a good foundation, social media comes into play. As always, we will be keeping an eye out for the marketing trends that come with this Facebook algorithm change.

 

Allison Cooke Oliverius | Content Marketing Manager

Sarah Lefebvre | Content Creator