We knew it was bound to happen again… Facebook has made yet
another change to their algorithm that will severely impact the way your posts
will appear in your fans’ Newsfeeds.
Facebook made an announcement on June 29, 2016 that the
platform will limit the posts in News Feeds from other Facebook pages and
instead prioritize posts from users’ families and friends. So what does this
mean for businesses using the social media giant as a way to get extra reach
and referral traffic?
Engagement is
Everything
The specific impact this change will have on your page
depends on how your audience interacts with you.
For example, if people are sharing your content directly
from your website and their friends are liking and commenting on it, there will
be less of an impact than if the majority of your traffic comes directly
through your own posts on Facebook.
On the other hand, if you have a very strong, active
following on Facebook, them sharing your posts will still result in more people
viewing that content. It’s just more difficult for those people to see your
posts in the first place now.
This is where the often unmentionable social media marketing
tool comes into play… advertising.
Facebook Becomes Even
More of a Pay-To-Play Environment
Many publishers and businesses will need to turn to
sponsored, also known as boosted posts in order to continue getting the traffic
they want to see from Facebook. Fortunately, these types of sponsored posts
don’t need to be overly expensive. As little as $25 can get your post in front
of everyone that is a fan of your page, and $100 can reach upwards of 20,000
people in your desired target.
Using these sponsored posts at opportune moments with quality,
sharable content or a specific deal or sale will help your business make the
most out of a small budget.
Facebook Ads Might
Cost More
Beyond just sponsored posts, all of Facebook’s advertising
might start to rise in use. That increase in demand will likely raise
supply-side costs. However, with a well-planned and executed Facebook
advertising campaign, your cost per lead may very well still be lower than if
you were using Google Adwords.
Of course, nothing’s forever on Facebook, and if
data (especially revenue and user interaction data) suggests that the change has
a negative impact on the kind of behavior that Facebook's seeking to encourage,
they could decide to switch to a new method of displaying Newsfeeds.