Facebook’s News Feed Algorithm Update | What to Know
When it comes to Facebook marketing, we’re sure you’ve heard enough about optimizing your ads, posting viral news, and retargeting to reach up to 2.2 billion monthly active users via their news feed.
But here’s the deal: Facebook recently updated its news feed algorithm. This means Facebook’s news feed is showing lesser news articles, marketing content and ads.
The news of Facebook making changes to its algorithm has spread like wildfire, creating a lot of confusion amongst brands and marketers about how the new update will affect the platform. If you, too, are concerned, skim through this post to learn about Facebook’s News Feed Algorithm Update.
Have a look!
Why Is Facebook’s News Feed Updated?
Facebook’s News Feed Update is an important algorithm change focused to make social interactions more “meaningful.” This means social content pushed by businesses, brands, and media will be usurped by updates from trusted sources such as friends, family, groups and trusted local news sources.
Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, explained in his Facebook post that this move is inspired by the fact that in the past couple of years, public content, media and businesses have dramatically increased invasions into Facebook individual users’ personal interactions. He further revealed that passive articles could prove to be bad for the health of Facebook individual users.
What Do These Updates Mean for Facebook Marketers?
Marketers and businesses are likely to see a gradual decline in the organic reach of their Facebook pages. The average Facebook page posts reach is around 2.6%. This means the post reach will go down even further.
Facebook’s algorithm used to use “Like, Comments and Shares” to rank content. This means Facebook’s post reach directly correlates with engagement. The higher the engagement rate, the better the post’s reach or visibility.
But with the latest news feed algorithm update, the social media giant is likely to include the ‘average time spent on posts’ and ‘user-publisher history’ as important ranking signals too. This means marketers will go over and beyond the usual best practices and content strategies to make Facebook followers and fans voluntarily opt to “See First” your content in their News Feed preferences.
This brings us to the next BIG QUESTION.
What Type of Content is Prioritized in the News Feed?
Content that instigates meaningful conversations and interactions amongst Facebook users are given priority over branded content, media uploads, and news stories. Some examples are:
- Content posted by family/friends/ groups – In the past, groups and communities on Facebook have been hyper active in terms of meaningful conversations and interactions. So, you are likely to see more discussion and content posted in groups.
- Posts seeking recommendations from family and friends – 71% users turn to social media for recommendations and reviews when buying. Facebook seems to have understood the importance of recommendations and reviews and is pushing them to the top of the newsfeed.
- Articles/videos/news stories that spark interaction – You can expect to see posts with more meaningful conversations including long comments. In addition, news stories and media uploads that are shared by friends and family will also show up higher in the news feed.
PS: Engagement-bait content will continue to be move down in the news feed.
How News Feed Algorithm Update will Impact Facebook Ads?
Facebook has made it clear that there will no impact of Facebook’s new algorithm update on the Facebook ad ecosystem. But here’s the deal: Facebook’s newsfeed algorithm update is likely to bring about a dramatic shift in the way people consume content on Facebook. And this could lead to a big impact on the overall cost of Facebook ads. You can expect different costs for different types of Facebook ads depending upon your ad delivery goal (e.g. clicks vs. Conversions vs. Impressions).
Quick Tips for Marketers to Combat News Feed Changes
- Educate your Facebook followers and fans on how they can change their preference settings and choose to see your content first in their news feed.
- Learn what type of content your Facebook followers and fans love consuming.
- Make sure your Facebook content is educating, entertaining and enriching in equal measure.
- Build an active and engaged community of followers, and participate in group discussions.
- Invest your time and efforts in Facebook ‘Live’ videos.
Over to You!
So there you have it – everything you need to know about Facebook’s newsfeed algorithm update. Remember, if you won’t play by the rules, you would be lost in the oblivion. So make sure your Facebook marketing strategy is fuelled by meaningful and relevant interactions.
