We all spend an embarrassing amount of time on social media. In fact, on average one in five mobile minutes is spent on Facebook alone. Our “friends” at Facebook want us to spend less time on social media. Sounds silly, but what they really want is for our time to be “meaningful” and “time well spent.” The new Facebook algorithm, which launched January 16th, prioritizes posts from a user’s friends and family in their news feed.
Since these personal posts will be prioritized on news feeds, businesses all over the world are rethinking their social media strategies. If you don’t already have a strategy, what better time to start. If your entity is not using social media, you are missing a major way to communicate with your audience.
In 2017, there were over 65 million business Facebook pages. Only 4 million of those pages frequently advertise and boost their posts. That’s a lot of competition to get in front of your audience. But you’re in luck, below are some very doable strategies to get into your target audience’s news feeds even with the new algorithm in place.
“See First”
This is for your super fans. If people want to, they can to go to your business page and choose the “See First” option under the “Following” tab. This tells the new Facebook algorithm to allow the page’s posts in their timeline. To get people to do this, you could exclusively release something on social media that people won’t want to miss and remind them to add your business to “See First” beforehand so they don’t miss it!
Influencer Marketing
Influencers are currently a major trend in social media. Influencer marketing is a billions of dollars market. I like to think of it as extreme word of mouth marketing. If someone you know or look up to likes a brand and shares why, chances are you will start to think the same way. This strategy works with the new algorithm because it uses real people instead of business accounts. Most of the time real people will have priority on news feeds compared to businesses.
Facebook Live
Camera shy? Then maybe this isn’t for you, but just because it isn’t for you doesn’t mean someone else in your office wouldn’t love it. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook co-founder, stated “live videos often lead to discussion among viewers on Facebook—in fact, live videos on average get six times as many interactions as regular videos.” Because of that, the new algorithm puts live videos within the top posts in news feeds.
Boosting Posts
Of course, boosting your posts will still work. This allows users to sponsor posts and achieve a goal for that post based on their budget. Goals can range from a variety of things like downloading an app, brand awareness, or simply engagement. Because of the new algorithm people will likely have to spend more time and money boosting their posts to achieve better analytics.
Comments
The new algorithm wants to create meaningful interactions. What does that look like? Comments. This means we need to create posts that spike conversations between friends and businesses. A tactic could be simply adding a question or poll to your posts.
Share Your News First
Facebook also realizes that this is where people are getting news and want to capitalize on that. Since most of us are not journalists, this seems to be a place to get stuck in the mud. But, all of us have our own exciting news taking place. Be the first to share about awards, new projects, and new employees. A journalist may even decide to contact you!
So Trendy
Tie trends into your posts. This creates the potential for more organic reach, by attracting people who are looking at trending topics. For example, if you received an award around the same time as the Super Bowl, you could use a caption like “We may never win the Super Bowl, but we have the best tasting water in North Dakota. #SBLII” or “@JTimberlake can cry a river, but we can turn it into drinking water. #SBLII #PepsiHalftime”.
Goodbye “Like and Share” Giveaways
Everyone has seen the “like, share, tag, and comment to win” posts. Maybe you were even lucky enough to win one. Well, those days are over. The new algorithm punishes spammy posts. Facebook will only show posts getting authentic comments and engagement.
The new algorithm is changing many current social media strategies. You may have even noticed that your engagement has gone down in numbers recently. These tips and the right strategy can help you reach your social media goals. If you need more assistance, AE2S Communications can help you develop the right strategy for your goals.