Is Facebook Update Bad News for your Business?

Facebook just announced that they are updating their News Feed algorithm to prioritize posts from friends and family above posts made by Facebook Pages. In other words, everyone will be seeing content like pictures, videos, and other posts from friends and family at the top of the feed, while pushing page updates further down. Essentially, the posts made by those you know are now going to be taking top priority. If you have a business Facebook Page, this is going to be a bit of a curveball!

So what does this mean for your Business Page traffic? 

Facebook expects that this update may cause reach and referral traffic to decline for some Pages. The exact impact on your Page’s distribution and other metrics will depend on the composition of your audience. For example, if a lot of your referral traffic is the result of people sharing your content while getting comments and reactions on the shared post from friends, there will be less of an impact than if the majority of your traffic comes directly through your Page posts.

This means that shareability is even more important than ever before to your Page! Pages whose content gets shared (along with other engagement like comments and reactions) will not see as much of a decrease of traffic. It will be more important than ever to create posts that people will want to interact with, not just posts you think your audience would appreciate.

What kind of posts will your audience share? 

 The New York Times recently conducted a study and report to determine the “Psychology of Sharing” and found these 5 reasons why audiences share posts:

1. Your audience thinks the content is interesting, entertaining, or otherwise valuable.
2. The content helps us define ourselves to others and reflects our values, interests, and identity.
3. We create, build, and enrich personal relationships by sharing.
4. Sharing creates a sense of self-fulfillment and it satisfies different personal desires.
5. We want to get the word out about things that matter to us and educate others.

So take this time to reflect on your Page’s content and content strategy to make sure you and your social media team ask yourself before you post:

• Does this fall into one of my audience’s reasons to share?
• Is this content specific to the type of Page that I am?
• And am I spending quality activity on my Page?

Don’t let this updated News Feed algorithm reduce your Page’s traffic! You can use it to reconsider some of the best content strategies. If you still have questions or need support with your social media marking strategy, we’re always happy to help. Click here or call us today at (800) 764-8528.