Is Facebook Changing or Just Going Back to Its Roots?

Face­book recent­ly announced that it would be chang­ing its algo­rithm to show users more per­son­al con­tent (from friends and fam­i­ly mem­bers) than news con­tent (from busi­ness­es), and it sparked a flur­ry of opinions. 

Adver­tis­ers, share­hold­ers and investors won­dered if Face­book was under­go­ing a dras­tic change while long-time users found the tran­si­tion famil­ial, head­ing back to the basics. After all, the plat­form began as a way to con­nect amongst friends and peers. 

But regard­less of the change’s favor­a­bil­i­ty or dis­like by users, its rip­ple effect impacts a wide sys­tem and many peo­ple. Let’s take a look at the new algo­rithm and what changes to heed in Face­book busi­ness page tips.

A Deeper Look into Facebook’s Algorithm Change:

Organic user content will return

In 2017, Insta­gram and Face­book users start­ed see­ing few­er updates from their real-life friends and end­less updates from brands and busi­ness­es. In 2018, organ­ic user con­tent is back and infil­trat­ing user feeds. This means influ­encers will reac­quaint with fol­low­ers and friends will return to see­ing each oth­ers’ news, not fake news pro­vid­ed as click bait.

Organic brand content will fall

Despite best efforts to cre­ate organ­ic con­tent from a brand plat­form, the algo­rithm change will favor inter­ac­tions between mutu­al rela­tion­ships, lead­ing toward friend-friend or influ­encer-advo­cate. Brands can pre­pare for the change by invest­ing in more paid ads and influ­encers mar­ket­ing partnerships.

Social influencers gain more prominence

Favor­ing per­son­al con­tent over news con­tent means that users will be most­ly exposed to the sta­tus­es and updates of real people. 

Social influ­encers have been ris­ing toward promi­nence in mar­ket­ing and adver­tis­ing, but Facebook’s recent algo­rithm change gives them more space to share and be heard than ever before. Brands can opti­mize their Face­book strate­gies by work­ing with more influ­encers and giv­ing influ­encers more free­dom in con­tent. Influ­encers who work inde­pen­dent­ly and with­out paid-adver­tis­ing will be recon­nect­ed with their audi­ences, show­ing up con­sis­tent­ly on their fol­low­ers’ and lik­ers’ feeds. 

Con­sid­er­ing the recent demo­tion in brand con­tent promi­nence, busi­ness and influ­encers should remain aware of the pos­si­bil­i­ty and like­li­hood of Face­book curb­ing the algo­rithm again and away from influ­encers if inter­ac­tions become inauthentic.

 

Marketing changes for businesses

Busi­ness­es who have reaped the rev­enue ben­e­fits of social media are fac­ing the biggest land­scape change. Con­tent that has recent­ly shown up con­sis­tent­ly and promi­nent­ly to users, trig­ger­ing engage­ment and swoon­ing adver­tis­ing dol­lars will take a back­seat. Brands who have replied on social plat­forms for income gen­er­a­tion must rework their strategies. 

Advertising changes

Expect changes in how to do paid adver­tis­ing on Face­book. If you don’t work with a dig­i­tal mar­ket­ing and adver­tis­ing strate­gist, now is an oppor­tune time to align your goals with the skill set of a dig­i­tal mar­ket­ing firm. From under­stand­ing how to pro­mote con­tent effec­tive­ly to swal­low­ing news stan­dards per Face­book busi­ness page cost, an expe­ri­enced pro­fes­sion­al or team will guide you seam­less­ly through the algo­rithm updates. 

Share­hold­ers will still ben­e­fit, but like­ly at the expense of your brand

Face­book is not going to let down its share­hold­ers or users; these enti­ties are the back­bone of their busi­ness. How­ev­er, changes made to keep both appeased and engaged are like­ly com­ing at the expense of busi­ness­es. Stay­ing on top of ways to man­age the algo­rithm change is crit­i­cal to keep­ing a pulse as a busi­ness on Face­book in 2018. 

Are you ready to learn more about how to opti­mize your busi­ness through Face­book amidst its recent algo­rithm changes? Get in touch with our tech savvy-team at Rosy Strate­gies and get start­ed on a brand-enhanc­ing strat­e­gy today.