30 Jul How to succeed with the new Facebook algorithm
Succeeding with the new Facebook Algorithm
After all the drama of Cambridge Analytica, Facebook have lost a lot of trust from their users. This year, they’re trying to go back to the ‘original’ Facebook and have changed their algorithm to prioritise your friends and family for more “meaningful social interactions”. This will be great for your newsfeed, but bad news for business pages.
Businesses have seen a large decline in their organic reach, and this is due to Facebook re-aligning their core values. By looking closely at these values, you can begin to create a page that fits nicely into the new style of algorithm.
Take a look at our tips for succeeding with the new Facebook algorithm, and what content you should create to flourish;
Family and Friends
Your Facebook friends will be prioritised over any business, and within them Facebook will learn who is most important to you. The people you interact with more will rank higher on your timeline, and vice versa.
Informative and Entertaining Content
Facebook is against ‘fake news’, pushing for a focus on real, engaging content over ‘clickbait-esque’ titles. What appears on your feed will be directly affected by what you and your friends respond to, be it celebrity stories or local news.
A Controlled Environment
The options to hide, unfollow and see first will affect how the algorithm treats you hugely, and the ability to report damaging content is taken very seriously. Facebook are constantly looking to improve their platform via user feedback.
Thinking about Facebook’s values, it’s clear that the way to the top is through real, engaging content that is geared towards the right audience. Posts which are friendly, informative and don’t push sales are the way to go;
Content Type
Video content has continually proven to give the highest engagement rates. Some people have tried to cheat the system by uploading images as videos, but Facebook has been wise to this trick for a while. Images are the next highest engagement-generating content, followed by polls & other interactive text-based statuses, and finally a basic status. As Facebook want people to remain on their site, links to external sites are not treated favourably; avoid linking back to your website in every post!
Clickbait
Facebook is smart; it can tell when you’re luring someone into clicking a link. If you use phrases like “The truth will shock you!” and “You’ll never guess what happened next!”, expect to be pushed down by the algorithm. This includes posts which say things like “Like if you agree!”, or competitions that ask people to like and share. Posts like these can have a lasting impact on your engagement; Facebook will begin to see your content as untrustworthy!
Repeating yourself
So, you had a post last month that did really well, and your likes have gone up since. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking you can re share the content and get the same engagement. It won’t get pushed out to your followers, and Facebook’s trust in you will go down again. They like things to be new and fresh! Try a post in the same style, but with different content.
Content Length
Tests on the current algorithm have shown that posts over 90 words, but below 300, seem to garner the most engagement. The sweet spot seems to be about 180, but remember; don’t make it clickbait!
Conversation is King
Comments are more important to being seen than likes, and for them to count they have to be over 4 words long. You can encourage these replies by asking questions in your posts, leading people to respond with sentences, not just tag their friends! To keep this going, respond to the users commenting on your posts. Engage back with them, keeping to the 4+ words rule. Not only is it good for your reach on that post, it encourages the people you’re talking to to return to your page.
Build a Community
Comments are just the beginning; building a community of followers who support your posts isn’t easy, but it can be helped along by creating a group which links to your page. This is similar to having a forum for your site, but on Facebook!
Pay
As much as we hate to admit it, your organic reach is going to held back on the ‘new’ Facebook by the simple fact that you’re a business. Posts from friends will always take priority and, to put it simply, no matter what it says, Facebook exists to make money. To be seen, you need to be willing to put money behind your posts. Promoting every post is a waste of time and resources, but by carefully crafting paid posts which are specifically for a target audience you can see a real return on your investment.
Getting organic reach can be difficult, and building up an active follower base takes time, but the rewards can far outweigh the risks! Most of the population is on Facebook, so your target audience is out there.
If you don’t feel confident building your companies reach under Mark Zuckerberg’s newest guidelines, or simply don’t have the time to give your social media the love it deserves, then let us know via our contact form, over e-mail at info@shynee.com, or give us a call on 01234 834719, to see how Shynee can help you out.