Facebook’s new algorithm change reminds us of the book, “Who Moved My Cheese?” by Spencer Johnson, M.D. Although, perhaps in this case, it’s who moved my Facebook posts!
Facebook determines whether your posts are shown to your fanbase or not using their algorithms….and these change…a LOT! So, what does this mean for you? We’re going to help make sense of it here.
What Changed?
According to Facebook, engagement (i.e. liking, clicking, commenting, etc) is historically the main factor in the system that determined what you saw in the News Feed. However, if your friend Beth liked a post about Yoga, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll want to see it.
Facebook put out a survey to over 1,000 people to rate their experience. Yay! We love it when brands ask for feedback. They asked how they could improve the content they see when they are on Facebook. They also surveyed tens of thousands of people around the world and asked them to rate stories they saw from 1-5 stars with the question, “How much did you want to see this story in your News Feed?”
From this research, they developed the new algorithm. The News Feed is going to evaluate the probability that you want to see the story as well as if you would take action on it (like, comment or share).
How does this affect your page?
Facebook is saying this update should not impact reach or referral traffic. Some pages may see declines in referral traffic if they’re posting content that isn’t relevant to the audience. This eliminates the “click-bait” you may have experienced from other pages previously (we know none of our fans are posting that type of content, right?). If you start a post with “You’ll never believe what happened when….”, try again. While that may temporarily spike your metrics, over time, it will catch up with you.
We have one word to leave you with……QUALITY. Post content your followers actually want to see and you’ll be all good!
As these changes to Facebook settle in, Social Power Group will keep you updated on our findings and best practices to help you make the most of your Facebook page!
PS – you can check out Facebook’s full News Post here.
