Facebook will reduce the reach of business pages content: what should you do? Recommendations by SMM Manager
Not so long ago, VKontakte was closed for Ukrainian users, including those who used this social network for business purposes. Most entrepreneurs moved to Facebook and Instagram. And right after they moved their business pages one of the most strategically important platforms Facebook announces that it intends to change the ranking algorithm and get rid of the content by business pages of media and brands to give more space for posts from friends and relatives in the news feed. Does this mean that updates from brands will disappear from the news feed?
First of all, let’s not panic. This Facebook’s decision is not so unexpected. In fact, the social network has started to implement this reform a long time ago. Are you surprised? You don’t have to be. You should have noticed how Facebook has been motivating the owners of the fan pages to use paid advertising. And that’s is the point. The statement by the administration of the social networks doesn’t say that they are going to abandon groups and business pages. On the contrary, they support and expand opportunities for this type of users. All that they are going to do is reduce organic not paid reach. And it’s done for how you might have guessed to increase the amount of paid advertising content.
In our marketing strategies, we have long advised our customers to reduce the number of posts (1–2 posts per day are just enough to keep your content in the timelines) and to invest more money in the targeted advertising which, in our opinion, and in Facebook’s opinion really helps reach a potential customer.
Considering these and other circumstances, we have made a list of recommendations that will help brands develop an effective SMM strategy, stay in the news feed, and sell even better after the reform.
Paid advertising
Not paid posts see approximately 10% of your followers at the moment. After the updates, this number can be reduced to 2–3%. What does Facebook want? They want to get paid. So, do that! Advertise the most popular publications. To start with, spend 1–2 dollars a day. It’s not so much money but it will help keep your posts in the users’ news feed for a long time. Set up the ads properly. Define your brand’s goal and its key audience. Hire a targetologist who will do it for you properly.
Video and high-quality content
Yes, Facebook wants people buy advertising from them but that doesn’t mean that the informational, entertainment and other engaging posts should be completely abandoned. On the contrary, you will lose your followers, if you constantly overburden them with the promotional content. You have to do your best in order to increase the organic reach of the posts and make people see them. Improve the quality of posts, take video, generate more interactivity (use polls, live streams). Just use the content people would respond to.
Bloggers
This is the type of users who won’t get affected by the reform. Their profiles are not public. Their publications have high organic reach. They are interesting to people and their opinions mean a lot. Getting your brand mentioned on the blogger’s page is not just a guarantee that you will be noticed but also a chance that people will get interested in you.
Personal brand
Another conclusion to which we came analyzing the new Facebook ranking algorithm is that it is essential to the brands to improve and promote personal profiles of their owners. Personal posts will be given priority and shown first. Share your professional opinion and your business page content in your personal profile.
Thus, by reducing the organic reach of content by businesses and brands Facebook will achieve two goals. It will increase the demand for advertising and improve the quality of published content. The content of the pages will not disappear from the news feed but brands will have to fight for their place in the sun now. And be sure, it’s worth it. The strongest ones won’t just survive but will start selling even better.
