Answer
Mar 10, 2018 - 01:51 PM
You are referring to the most recent changes to Facebook code that now prioritizes content produced by a user’s friends and family and de-prioritizes content (including pages, videos, photos, and posts) produced by businesses and media.
In June 2014, Brian Boland, Facebook's VP of Advertising Technology posted an article in response to enquiries as to the reason for the drastic decline in fan engagement, viewing and interacting with brand/business’ organic posts on Facebook.
In the response, Boland gave the following reasons –
First, the high volume of content produced and published on Facebook. Too much content from individual users, brands and business led to decreased visibility for any one piece of content to stand out.
Second, since too much content is being published, Facebook has to strategically figure out how to show content that is most relevant to users vs all available content on the newsfeed.
I would also add other reasons including –
Thirdly, Facebook is in the business of advertising to the broadest audience possible.
Fourth, maximizing profits for its shareholders means Facebook has to adjust the algorithm to stay relevant otherwise, it could end up as Myspace. Remember Myspace?
For these reasons, Facebook has to constantly adjust its algorithm and will probably continue to do so to optimize it ways that achieve above 4 objectives.
Here just a few of the number of times Facebook has adjusted its algorithm in the last few years
Each of these updates forced brands and businesses to change how they build pages and content to engage with fans.
As you can see, Facebook does a code base modification regularly and oftentimes, those changes impact users, brands and businesses.
Secondly, if you stop building pages for Facebook organic reach on Facebook, you may end up being the only brand/business to take that action. No doubt a few other small number of brands and businesses may feel it
So, the options are to stop building Facebook organic pages or to adjust Facebook content & page strategy to achieve the same quality and quantity of fans. To capitalize of the new Facebook changes, consider the following –
1. Create a “Must Have” Content for Your Fans & Followers
If your fans know and trust that that they can always count on compelling content from your brand, they’ll actively seek out your brand/business content even if it does not automatically/organically show up in their newsfeed.
2. Compelling Content Gets Shared
When your content is exciting and interesting to your fans, they’ll feel more inclined to share it with their friends. Fans will make content go viral. Example is the VW Passat Darth Vader Super bowl commercial. Even if you don’t not have the same budget as VW to produce compelling content, it is still possible to be creative with limited budget perhaps once a year.
3. Use Available Facebook Features
a)Stories
User generated photo or video collections has become a favorite feature on Instagram but not quite there on Facebook. Use the Stories feature to make your content more compelling and visible.
b)Go Live
Any business brand or user can now “Go Live” with Facebook. The benefits of live streaming with go live include –
c)Facebook Group
Generate Facebook user interactions by using Groups feature.
4.Quality vs Quantity
Create quality content. It is better to post quality content vs quantity.
5.Create Content that Encourage Interactions
It goes without saying that contents that generate interactions will go viral than content that is posted just to satisfy daily posting schedule.
6.Paid vs Organic Facebook Strategies
The ad business is maturing as Facebook refines the algorithm to segment and target desired audiences based on business/brand specifications. Rather than selecting one vs other, the best strategy to incorporate both paid and organic strategies.
Answer: Yes it is worth continuing to building pages for Facebook organic content. Otherwise, you may be the only business/brand that's not building pages for Facebook while your competition continues to seek that holy grail of visibility and engagement on Facebook.
In June 2014, Brian Boland, Facebook's VP of Advertising Technology posted an article in response to enquiries as to the reason for the drastic decline in fan engagement, viewing and interacting with brand/business’ organic posts on Facebook.
In the response, Boland gave the following reasons –
First, the high volume of content produced and published on Facebook. Too much content from individual users, brands and business led to decreased visibility for any one piece of content to stand out.
Second, since too much content is being published, Facebook has to strategically figure out how to show content that is most relevant to users vs all available content on the newsfeed.
I would also add other reasons including –
Thirdly, Facebook is in the business of advertising to the broadest audience possible.
Fourth, maximizing profits for its shareholders means Facebook has to adjust the algorithm to stay relevant otherwise, it could end up as Myspace. Remember Myspace?
For these reasons, Facebook has to constantly adjust its algorithm and will probably continue to do so to optimize it ways that achieve above 4 objectives.
Here just a few of the number of times Facebook has adjusted its algorithm in the last few years
- In 2016, Facebook modified its algorithm to further prioritize content from friends and family
- August 11, 2016: Prioritizes personally informative stories
- July 9, 2015: Greater user control over the News Feed
- April 21, 2015: Prioritize content from friends and Pages
- November 14, 2014: Reduce excessive promotional Page posts
- August 23, 2013: Adjusted algorithm to show more high-quality content to users
- October 2009: News feed prioritizes popular posts
Each of these updates forced brands and businesses to change how they build pages and content to engage with fans.
As you can see, Facebook does a code base modification regularly and oftentimes, those changes impact users, brands and businesses.
Secondly, if you stop building pages for Facebook organic reach on Facebook, you may end up being the only brand/business to take that action. No doubt a few other small number of brands and businesses may feel it
So, the options are to stop building Facebook organic pages or to adjust Facebook content & page strategy to achieve the same quality and quantity of fans. To capitalize of the new Facebook changes, consider the following –
1. Create a “Must Have” Content for Your Fans & Followers
If your fans know and trust that that they can always count on compelling content from your brand, they’ll actively seek out your brand/business content even if it does not automatically/organically show up in their newsfeed.
2. Compelling Content Gets Shared
When your content is exciting and interesting to your fans, they’ll feel more inclined to share it with their friends. Fans will make content go viral. Example is the VW Passat Darth Vader Super bowl commercial. Even if you don’t not have the same budget as VW to produce compelling content, it is still possible to be creative with limited budget perhaps once a year.
3. Use Available Facebook Features
a)Stories
User generated photo or video collections has become a favorite feature on Instagram but not quite there on Facebook. Use the Stories feature to make your content more compelling and visible.
b)Go Live
Any business brand or user can now “Go Live” with Facebook. The benefits of live streaming with go live include –
- The “Go Live” feature is not yet saturated so better chance getting high organic reach.
- Live streaming on Facebook also notifies page’s fans which is a great way to reach fans and followers.
- It also receives 6x the engagement of regular video.
c)Facebook Group
Generate Facebook user interactions by using Groups feature.
4.Quality vs Quantity
Create quality content. It is better to post quality content vs quantity.
5.Create Content that Encourage Interactions
It goes without saying that contents that generate interactions will go viral than content that is posted just to satisfy daily posting schedule.
6.Paid vs Organic Facebook Strategies
The ad business is maturing as Facebook refines the algorithm to segment and target desired audiences based on business/brand specifications. Rather than selecting one vs other, the best strategy to incorporate both paid and organic strategies.
Answer: Yes it is worth continuing to building pages for Facebook organic content. Otherwise, you may be the only business/brand that's not building pages for Facebook while your competition continues to seek that holy grail of visibility and engagement on Facebook.
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