7 pieces of advice for brands to cope with the Facebook algorithm changes
1. Focus on strong emotions
Think about the content that prompts you to really engage. Is it the content that entertains, inspires, or amazes you? With all that extra weight being placed on interactions and comments, you will really need to stimulate your followers’ opinions and feelings.
As Facebook announced in their Marketing Partners FAQ, multiple people replying to each other’s comments on an article or video is a prime example of a “meaningful interaction.” If you can post content that gets people discussing or debating in the comments, you’ll not only have great engagement stats, but you’ll also get priority in the updated News Feed.
But what emotions should you focus on to prompt meaningful discussions among your fans? This research published in Harvard Business Review found that six emotions were extremely common in highly shared content on social media. These were:
- Admiration
- Amazement
- Astonishment
- Curiosity
- Interest
- Uncertainty
If you focus your organic posts on stimulating at least one of these six emotions, you’re likely to see a boost in shares and comments. Your brand can still be prioritized in the new Facebook News Feed as long as you share content that amazes your audience and gets them talking – just make sure to stay clear of controversial topics, clickbait titles, and engagement baiting.
2. Don’t resort to engagement bait
With the new Facebook algorithm change, you may be tempted to do whatever you can to boost engagement and keep your Page’s content prioritized. If you go too far, however, you’ll end up hurting because of it.
As mentioned earlier, Facebook’s algorithm is equipped to fight engagement baiting. In short, this a reduction in the News Feed rank of posts deemed to manipulate users into engaging with them.
To explain further, here are the five types of engagement bait Facebook will downgrade your posts for:
- “Vote baiting” asks followers to “vote” on one of several options by reacting to or commenting on a post in a certain way.“
- React baiting” prompts users to give specific reactions to a post.
- “Share baiting” offers hidden value to users that share a post.
- “Tag baiting” calls on users to tag friends with characteristics defined by a post.
- “Comment baiting” pushes users to sound off in the comments with a particular word or phrase.
Essentially, you can’t game the system by begging your fans for shares, tags, and likes. The only way to keep your organic reach solid is to create or share genuinely interesting, discussion-provoking content. While you should avoid any engagement bait, you need to make sure that you engage with your audience and answer every single post comment on time. This will signal to Facebook that you are investing in building meaningful relationships with your audience and thus boost your page’s performance.
3. Share quotes in your headlines
Much like including opinions and emotions in your posts (and especially in your headlines), sharing quotes is practically guaranteed to increase engagement and meaningful interactions with your content. The thing is, this applies to all quotes. They could be famous quotes from historical figures or simply pull quotes from the interview or article you’re sharing. All that matters is that the quote sparks intrigue and gives your followers something to talk about.
Try this as a split test the next time you advertise on Facebook. Use one ad with a standard headline and another with a pull quote from the content you’re advertising. Compare engagement rates on both ads — we think the results will speak for themselves. One particularly potent combo for sparking meaningful interactions is to post a video and include a key quote from it in the header or description. That way, you fuel your audience’s curiosity with the quote, then catch their attention with engaging video content. And speaking of video, it might just be your best bet for keeping your organic reach up.
4. Put video first
Video is king on social media. Facebook’s News Feed algorithms also prioritize video, essentially giving your video content a free bump in your fans’ Feeds. And that bump is amplified by the fact that videos take up a large amount of real estate on users’ screens.
People tend to stop scrolling if they see movement in order to identify what it is. With that in mind, even GIFs or videos that are just a few seconds long can be incredibly attention-grabbing. Even if your brand doesn’t have the time or resources to produce high-end video campaigns, simply making use of animated content could help you maintain your posts’ ranks. Live videos, though, are the cream of the crop for engagement – they give a meaningful way for people to connect with each other as well as with their favorite brands.
5. Keep calm and keep advertising
Many marketers forget one simple rule: you can’t build a business on organic reach alone. With that in mind, even if the latest Facebook algorithm change does lead to a downturn in your Page’s organic reach, there is no reason to lose your cool.
You will almost always see a positive ROI from Facebook ads. Facebook ads have higher ROI and cheaper prices than TV advertising, Snapchat, YouTube, and a large array of other services. Even for small businesses, it’s still possible to see positive ROI from a solid Facebook ad campaign.
Not only that, it’s a basic fact that advertising on Facebook is scalable. Organic reach is not. Therefore, you may need to rethink exactly what you’re using organic reach for. Organic posts are not for reaching out to vast hordes of potential customers or getting your brand message spread far and wide. Rather, they’re for building deeper relationships with the people who already know and love your brand and providing a communication channel directly between you and your fans. On a more pragmatic level, they are also a strong tactic for testing content before choosing to put spend behind it.
Meanwhile, paid Facebook ads can precisely target your ideal potential customers in large numbers. You can scale them up almost indefinitely as long as you’re getting a positive ROI and reach exponentially wider audiences with almost no interference from News Feed’s ranking system. If you want significant reach on Facebook, it looks like paid posts are your best bet.
6. Create authentic content in Stories
Ephemeral content like Stories is exploding across social networks like Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, LinkedIn, and even Twitter. 86.6% of users now post stories on Instagram, and 70% view stories daily. This type of content is here to stay, so why not make the best out of it for your brand?
Stories allow you to create authentic yet engaging content. All you need is a relevant idea to catch your audience’s attention. The good news is that you can create stories on the go without the need for a significant investment in video production. Ephemeral content is not part of the Facebook News Feed, but it boosts your page’s results and gives excellent exposure for your brand.
7. Use your team superpowers on social
Facebook is trying to activate human interactions and connections on social. That’s, after all, what we are searching for as users on Facebook, right? The social network prioritizes your friends’ posts in the News Feed rather than brands’ ones.
So, why not activate your employees’ superpowers on Facebook?
Branded messages get 561% more reach on average when shared by employees instead of company pages. Your team can also help to spread the message across Facebook by commenting on the posts.
You've got this!
Аt the end of the day, the algorithm changes are a long-term investment. Facebook users now see an improved News Feed experience that prioritizes the kind of content that brought them to the platform in the first place. This will pay off by increasing user satisfaction. And while the updates may prove a short-term speedbump for brands that depend heavily on organic reach, there are many ways to adapt your content strategy accordingly. You can either focus more on Facebook ads, adjust your organic content to the new ranking system, or, ideally, do both.