The Changing Face of Facebook
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You may or may not be surprised that Facebook is making changes to the site once again. The social media giant always seems to be making changes to its newsfeed, for better or worse. Their most recent change will likely make users very happy, but could leave your company unseen and losing quality interactions with your customers and potential customers.
The Death of “Click-Baiting”
In late August, Facebook announced that it was making changes to improve the Newsfeeds for its users. Their announcement said, “We’re making some improvements to News Feed to help people find the posts and links from publishers that are most interesting and relevant, and to continue to weed out stories that people frequently tell us are spammy and that they don’t want to see. We’re making two updates, the first to reduce click-baiting headlines, and the second to help people see links shared onFacebook in the best format.”
According to Facebook, they are taking a two pronged approach to end click-baiting.
First, they are going to be monitoring how long people read the articles they click on from Facebook. So, if people are clicking on articles and quickly returning to Facebook, it will be perceived that people are not finding the content of the link valuable and it is not what they want to see. On the flip side, if when they click they are spending more time reading the content of the link, it will be perceived that it is valuable and something people want to see. Facebook will use this to rank content and those pages that are ranked low will get less visibility in the Newsfeeds. The other part of this is whether posts are being discussed, liked, and shared. Facebook sees posts that people commenting on, liking, and sharing as more valuable information and information that more people are interested in seeing.
The second prong deals with sharing items on Facebook. Facebook says that people prefer to click on articles that have been posted in the “link format,” which is where you type in the link address as you are drafting the post. This pulls the link in and gives readers a little more information about the article. These link posts will be prioritized higher with these new changes.
So What Does This All Mean For You?
While Facebook says that these changes won’t affect most people, you still need to be aware of them and work a little savvier.
If you haven’t already, you need to start using the 80/20 rule for posting to Facebook. That means that 80 percent of what you post is informational and/or educational and 20 percent, at most, is marketing.
For your informational content, try posting:
- Blogs educating customers on why you need to do a Manual J load calculation, the important of maintenance, how indoor air quality affects their health, or any other topic that you get a lot of questions about or see a lot while you are on job sites
- Educational videos and/or downloads that help explain common problems in simple terms.
- Press releases about your company winning awards, participating in charity events, or anything else that shines a good light on you.
- Videos and photos of your team participating in community events, training programs, or staff events.
The other 20 percent can be about your latest promotion. Just make sure that it is consistent with any other promotions you are offering at that time.
Most importantly, make sure that you are monitoring your Facebook page and interacting with your followers. If they ask a question, respond. If they comment, start a conversation. Interacting with your customers not only helps with these new changes to Facebook, but more importantly it helps build and grow your relationship with them.
So, while you can’t change what Facebook is going to do, you can position your company as a valued source for information. By taking a few simple steps, you will ensure that you are providing engaging content that doesn’t get you removed from newsfeeds and out of sight from your customers.
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Posted In: ACCA Now, Sales & Marketing, Technology
