On January 11, Facebook announced plans to change its news feed algorithm to prioritize content, favoring “friends, family and groups” over "businesses, brands and media”.
What does this mean for businesses and their Facebook business pages?
Essentially, businesses will need to work harder to gain their customers’ attention. What can your business do?
- Continue posting engaging, quality content that prompts comments. Include questions, or write about timely, relevant topics that users are sure to have an opinion on.
- Encourage customers to follow your Facebook Page. The “See First” option in users’ news feed preferences will not change. You could remind your loyal follows about using this.
- Increase your ad budget. Now that Facebook is re-prioritizing content from brands, businesses must know how to best target their audiences to ensure their advertising dollars are optimized.
- Make more Facebook Live videos. Live videos take on increased importance now. According to Facebook, they get "on average six times as many interactions as regular videos.”
- Invest time in Facebook Groups. Investigate new ways to engage customers with Groups, alongside their Page and advertising efforts.
Adapted from Hootsuite.com; Blog post author Shannon Tien, Inbound Marketing Specialist.