Will the The Big Changes to the Facebook News Feed Algorithm Impact Your Business?

In a word, “Yes.”

In mid-January, Facebook announced changes that impact the ranking algorithm used to determine what posts are visible in the news feed, and in what order. According to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the change will “surface relevant content that facilitates meaningful social interactions among your friends and family.”

To translate that for advertisers: posts from friends and family will receive a boost while posts from businesses, brands, media companies and publishers will have their visibility scaled back.

What does this mean for your business?

• It will be harder to reach Facebook users as fewer ads will be served in their news feeds.
• Facebook users spending less time on the social media site will be tougher to reach. Even Zuckerberg admitted the time people spend on Facebook will go down. “But I also expect the time you do spend on Facebook will be more valuable,” he said.
• To protect Facebook organic post reach, businesses will change tactics, primarily offering content that inspires meaningful engagement and provides value to prospects and customers.
• As organic reach drops, demand for the limited news feed availabilities will increase, and, in turn, advertising rates will most likely go up.

How Should Your Business React?

Knucklepuck CEO Brett Snyder called this change a “bold move.”

“They will lose a lot of money off of this, but they are making an investment in the long-term viability of their product,” he said. Still, this causes problems for brands advertising their services to the social network’s millions of international users.

Snyder suggested the following strategies as a way to combat these changes to the news feed:

• Consider refocusing your Facebook advertising to leverage non-news feed placements. Examples are groups, right column, instant articles, in-stream video, sponsored messages and audience network.
• Create public content that stimulates positive conversation among Facebook users.
• Consider using an agency with a paid digital advertising department. Developing a new marketing mix and reallocating funds previously used to promote content in the Facebook News Feed could maintain or increase return on other platforms.

If these, or other changes, have you concerned about the impact of a shifting digital marketplace on your advertising and promotional budgets, now might be a good time to contact Knucklepuck for an evaluation of your lead generation efforts.