So many updates, so little time. At least, that’s how I feel about Facebook. It seems like every other day they’re coming out with some new update. Recently, they announced their new and improved insights (I’ll write a post about that soon), embeddable posts, and now they’ve just published some new changes that we’re going to be seeing in our News Feeds.
As you know, or as you know now, social media marketing relies heavily on the functionality of the News Feed. The News Feed is where your content, as a brand, will show up. The more News Feeds your updates and posts make their way to, the more eyeballs you’ve attracted. An increase in eyeballs + good quality x engaging updates = more fans! More fans equals a good social brand. Get it? Got it? Good!
Facebook’s been bashed a few times for being opaque when it comes to sharing their algorithm. In an attempt to be more transparent, Facebook published a blog post in which they provide some insight into their illusive News Feed workings.
Currently, the News Feed responds to the things you do on Facebook. You’re more likely to see an update if you are actively interacting with a friend, Page or public figure. You’re also more likely to see an update on your News Feed if it’s highly popular and receives a lot of Likes, Shares and comments from both your friends and the world, as a whole. Lastly, you’re also shown updates based on how you’ve interacted with similar types of content in the past. For example, if you click Like to food posts, it’s highly probably you’ll see more food posts come up in your feed.
This are all reasons why you want to have quality content that encourages people to like, share and comment. As a brand it is your duty to create and share content that grabs your fans attention and encourages engagement. The better you become at this, the better results you will see from your content.
What’s New?
In addition to the features above, now “organic stories that people did not scroll down far enough to see can reappear near the top of the News Feed, if the stories are still getting lots of Likes and comments.” According to a small study, this new change resulted in a “5% increase in the number of Likes, comments and Shares on the organic stories people saw from friends, and an 8% increase in Likes, comments and Shares on the organic stories they saw from Pages.”
What Does This Mean For Your Business?
It means that your best performing organic content will see increased reach. That’s right, stories that perform well will resurface, meaning your posts will have a higher chance of being seen.
Yay! Sounds great, right? It is, if you do it right. You can’t just post something without thought. It needs to work for your audience. This new update just gives you more reason, as a brand, to create really great content that’s shareable and relatable. Tell your story.
So, what’s next in Facebook land? Trends.
