Yet another news feed update has been made to Facebook that will decrease the reach of publishers’ pages. This is one more setback for brands that have used the social network to keep in contact with their community and customers. Facebook users can expect to see more content from their friends & family, which puts an increased need for shareable content on brands pages.
“Facebook was built on the idea of connecting people with their friends and family,” wrote Adam Mosseri, Facebook’s VP of Product management. “That is still the driving principle of news feed today. Our top priority is keeping you connected to the people, places and things you want to be connected to—starting with the people you are friends with on Facebook. That’s why if it’s from your friends, it’s in your feed, period—you just have to scroll down.”
According to Facebook’s research, users want their news feeds to inform and entertain. To no surprise to brands that have been trying to find ways to use the social network to engage customers, that importance of content sharability posted to Facebook has just drastically increased.
Brands looking to circumvent these changes and maintain their page reach and site traffic should consider immediately implementing to tactics to their strategic mix:
1. Boosted Content: Use paid social to boost content to your own followers or a tailored audience on content that has a strong call-to-action to visit your website
2. Share Factor: Ensure that there is a reason for viewers to share your content. Since the news feed change makes it Facebook users will see friends & family content more than branded content, the more your community shares content from your brand page, the more likely it will be seen organically
3. Advocates & Influencers: Use your network of trusted brand advocates and influencers to regularly share content to their own followers
While Facebook has not said yet when these changes will officially roll out, some publishers are already reporting a decline in post reach.
