7 Ideas To Help You Beat The New Facebook News Feed Changes

17 Jan 7 Ideas To Help You Beat The New Facebook News Feed Changes

Facebook is changing it’s News Feed yet again, and I can hear social media marketers and Facebook Business Page owners across the world sighing out a big “ugh”. To be completely honest I don’t really see these Facebook News Feed changes as a bad thing. I think it will be a creative challenge for us marketers, and can be positive for the overall Facebook experience. With that said this week I’ll be sharing 7 ideas for Facebook’s News Feed changes.

Facebook News Feed Changes In A Nutshell

On January 11, 2018 Mark Zuckerberg announced a few Facebook News Feed changes which are meant to help us get back to the main essence of Facebook – to keep you connected with friends and family. Zuckerberg stated:

“We’re making a major change to how we build Facebook. I’m changing the goal I give our product teams from focusing on helping you find relevant content to helping you have more meaningful social interactions.

…The first changes you’ll see will be in News Feed, where you can expect to see more from your friends, family and groups. As we roll this out, you’ll see less public content like posts from businesses, brands, and media. And the public content you see more will be held to the same standard — it should encourage meaningful interactions between people.”

So what does this mean?

The Facebook News Feed changes mean that there will be even less reach for your fan page – boo! Sneaking into your customer’s news feed will still depend on your content and how your fans interact with it, so not much has actually changed. The classic Facebook engagement tips will stay in play:

• Create meaningful content
• Create high quality content
• Add value
• Get consumers to genuinely interact with you
• Avoid click and engagement bait

For those marketers who create and share content based on their audience’s wants and needs, not much will change for you. For those marketers just posting memes and cats for engagement – well you’ll have to work a little harder. The bottom line is you’ll have to come up with ways to get even more interaction from your followers.

7 Ideas To Help You Beat The New Facebook News Feed Changes

1. USE VIDEOS/LIVE VIDEOS

I’m going blue in the face from saying this but videos seem to be the way to reach the most amount of people. Keeping in mind the “engagement bait” restrictions Facebook has also implemented in the past few weeks views, and replays will matter – so make your videos meaningful. I suggest live videos because you can get instant interaction from your followers, with the opportunity to get the word out about when your live video session will happen. Remember to ask your viewers to interact with you with open questions or by submitting questions during the live feed.

2. SHARE FACEBOOK POSTS IN PLACES OTHER THAN FACEBOOK/CROSS PROMOTE YOUR PAGE

Speaking about getting the word out, one way to drive more traffic to your Facebook page and beat the Facebook News Feed changes is simply to share you posts and page on your other social media networks, blog posts, or even your email list.

3. SEE FIRST OPTION

One tool Facebook has provided for fan pages is the “See First” option. When your followers activate this option they are less likely to miss your age updates. Ask followers to navigate to your Fan Page, click on “Following” and then click on “See First”

4. TRY FACEBOOK GROUPS

In part of the statement concerning the Facebook News Feed changes Zuckerberg states that posts from friends, family and groups will take priority – so why not try creating an engaged Facebook group if it makes sense for your business. Running a successful group takes time and effort, but can be a great way to build a true community around your business. For example I have a group exclusively for members of my email list and resource library. In this group they can ask questions, get access to my posts as soon as they get published and more. In this upcoming year I’ll be working on creating more of a sense of community in there.

5. GET INVOLVED IN THE COMMUNITY

If you read my blog you know I advise brick and mortar businesses to get into what’s happening in their communities. Not only does this offer location tagging opportunities, but it can make you an authority in your area, attracting local customers to seek your social media channels for info on local happenings. If you aren’t a brick and mortar business you can still keep an eye out with what’s happening in your city or even get behind a specific cause to connect on a deeper level with your audience.

6. AIM FOR GENUINE INTERACTIONS

As always strive for genuine interaction to beat the Facebook News Feed changes. I mentioned engagement bait earlier – this means posts that ask followers to like, comment or share on a post. Instead ask open ended questions to get followers to interact.

7. ASK YOUR AUDIENCE

The easiest way to get more from your Facebook page and into your followers News Feeds is to simply ask them! You can ask what they want to see, what content they like best, what their pain points are, and adjust your strategy to their answers.

I hope these ideas make you feel better about the upcoming Facebook News Feed Changes. As marketers we need to be prepared for an ever changing landscape – it’s just the nature of our world. If you have a good social media strategy, you should not have much to worry about. The shift just means we have to get more in touch with those we want to reach. Again look at these Facebook News Feed changes as a fun challenge and rise to the occasion.

<3 DhariLo