More posts from friends, less from pages – this was the result to the recent updates done by Facebook to their newsfeed algorithm.
In a blog, Max Eulenstein, Product Manager and Lauren Scissors, User Experience Researcher of Facebook explained that their goal is to show the content that matters to their users.
“The goal of News Feed is to show you the content that matters to you. This means we need to give you the right mix of updates from friends and public figures, publishers, businesses and local organizations you are connected to.”
The blog mentioned of three updates:
#1: Improving the experience for people who don’t have a lot of content available to see.
Facebook previously rules in place to prevent users from seeing multiple posts from the same source in a row. With this update, if you run out of content, but want to spend more time in News Feed, you’ll see more posts even though they are from the same source.
#2: Ensures that content posted directly by the users’ friends will be higher up in News Feed
Posts from users’ friends such as photos, videos, status updates or links will be higher up in news feed so users are less likely to miss them.
#3: Stories about friends liking or commenting on a post appear lower down in News Feed
Through a survey, Facebook learned that users do not enjoy seeing stories about their friends liking or commenting on a post. Because of this, these type stories will appear lower down in News Feed or not at all.
How can this affect my page and what should I do?
According to Facebook, “post reach and referral traffic could potentially decline.” However, pages should continue to post things that people find meaningful.
To make sure this update doesn’t drastically decrease your reach, follow these best practices below:
- Post Frequently. In an experiment conducted by Facebook with 29 media partners, they found that increasing post volume by an average of 45% over a week resulted in a 76% increase in outbound clicks, 10% increase in likes per post, and 47% increase in fans.
- Share a variety of content. Photos, links, trivias, games, quotes, etc. Keep your followers engaged by making your content exciting and fun! Facebook also suggests the use of text prompts and calls-to-action in your posts to inspire engagement.
Upload videos. Videos are big on Facebook! In fact, Over 1 billion video views happen on Facebook everyday. So get creative and upload short or long videos for your followers.
- Tag other pages in your Facebook posts. If you want your content to be viewed by the followers of a popular page, the quickest way to do so is to tag them. Tagging other pages will make your post eligible to appear in the news feed of people who are fans of those pages, potentially increasing your distribution.
- Host a Q&A. To quickly engage with your followers, you can host a quick Q & A within your page. Simply announce the date and time beforehand and wait for the questions to start pouring!
Have you been experiencing low organic reach these past few months? What’s your game plan when these updates get completely rolled out? Let me know in the comments below.