It’s no secret that the folks in charge at Facebook are fond of shaking things up. For the average user, the vast majority of algorithmic changes are barely noticed. However, for businesses who use Facebook to market themselves to their customers, those changes often require a change of approach. Recently, Facebook announced changes that will greatly impact the visibility of certain types of status updates posted by business pages.
Citing the goal of bringing users the kind of content they respond to the most, the main focus of Facebook’s change are text and link updates.
- Business page text updates will reach fewer people. Based on research that shows fewer users interact with business statuses than they do with personal page statuses, Facebook has effectively downgraded the visibility of business page text activity. What this means is that if you post a text-only update on your business page, its visibility may get pushed to the bottom of the heap on a follower’s news feed. In some cases, it may not even appear at all.
- Link-sharing will be rewarded with higher visibility than links embedded into status updates. When sharing a link through Facebook to an external site, there are a couple of methods that you can use. The first method involves creating your own page status update that says a few words about a certain link, then includes the URL to the content you want to share. The second method involves inserting a link that pulls in all of the associated meta data. This second method is the one that Facebook prefers you use, and that it will continue to reward with improved visibility.
What Facebook doesn’t address in its official statement is what business owners should do to increase the visibility of their professional business page activity. The only answer given is the decidedly vague, “This is difficult to answer, as it depends on who your audience is and what they want to see.” Fortunately, there are a number of approaches that social media experts suggest putting into use immediately to try to offset any loss of visibility due to these algorithmic changes. These include sharing photographs or creating memes that accomplish the task of entertaining while informing. Another method of ensuring your business posts get more visibility is to upload videos and share them with your list of followers. Typically the more visual the medium, the greater its visibility.
Still, the most important thing to do – and consequently the one that most businesses experience the greatest difficulty doing – is to know your audience. It’s never enough to post away and hope that your target audience is getting what you’re putting out. Use everything at your disposal, from analytic tools to simple powers of observation, to ascertain a “feel” for who your most active followers are so that you can create content they’ll love and share with others.
Stay tuned to Artisan Talent for more information and breaking news about Facebook algorithm updates and other social media marketing stories. If you’re looking for a professional to help you expand your marketing reach beyond your existing social media channels, check out our job board of available freelance experts that you can hire on a short- to long-term basis. Whether you’re looking for someone to manage your social marketing or a fulltime interactive designer to rebuild your website from scratch, we have contacts from professionals in a variety of industries. Likewise, if you are seeking a marketing, app design, or freelance web designer job, Artisan can help put you in touch with businesses looking for your services. Contact us today to learn more.
