Mark Zuckerberg is at it again, changing Facebook's Algorithm to enhance user experience and provide more meaningful interactions on the platform. Facebook will no longer be focused on helping users find relevant content, but will now focus more on personal interactions between users. Content generated by businesses and news outlets will be replaced by posts from your friends and groups that you belong to. With this major change, businesses that use Facebook as a primary advertising tool may need to change up their tactics in order to keep their organic reach high.
Why the change?
According to Zuckerberg, social media usage is good for the user only when it involves a personal connection. If you are not connecting as much with the people you care about, research shows that social media can actually be bad for you. Part of the problem flared up during the 2016 Presidential Election. Fake news became a daily occurrence and misled millions of people. Due to the negative impact that news media outlets have had on the well being of Facebook users, the company has decided to decrease their exposure and diminish their influence on users.
What's happening on the newsfeed?
Once the algorithm changes go into effect on Facebook, you will have access to two separate newsfeeds.
The main newsfeed will be comprised of mostly posts from friends and groups that the you have joined. The second newsfeed will be an "explore" feed and will feature posts from businesses and news media. These changes will ensure that you will not miss important posts from family and friends.
On average, Facebook users see approximately 1,500 posts every single day, but only really look at about 300.
Facebook wants to be sure that you have more access to what you want to see.
Mastering the algorithm
Facebook's algorithm is ever-changing. Just when you think you've mastered it, they switch things up again. Some of the best ways to maintain your exposure and grow your organic reach are actually fairly simple.
The first thing you can do is to make sure that your posts contain quality content and are not just sales text.
Quality posts usually contain information that your followers will find valuable. Spam posts will be flagged by the algorithm and hidden from the majority of your followers.
Another tip is to change up the times at which you post and to take advantage of the live feature. Posting at the same time every day may result in the post being marked by the algorithm as spam, while the live feature will allow your followers to engage with you.
To further increase engagement, be sure to respond in a timely manner to comments from followers. It is also recommended to use a wide range of content styles to keep your followers interested. For example, use images, links, and videos as opposed to using text-only updates.
This will encourage your followers to interact, which helps your page's overall reach with these algorithm changes.
Facebook is always looking for ways to improve user experience. In order to keep your page's organic reach up, adapting to these changes in the algorithm is essential.
