Facebook – what are they up to now?
Social Media Changes.
Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook is making some changes to Newsfeed and marketeers across the world shuddered!
Your first challenge is understanding what this change means and then building a plan to make it work for you and your brand. Don’t worry we can help.
Luckily we PR professionals are perfectly positioned to make the most of these changes because we’re all about making sure that brands are truly social.
We believe that the real success in social media marketing comes from creating engaging channels with genuine audiences that love your brand, service or product. People that want to hear what you have to say won’t be put off that easily.
So what are they going to do?
Starting as soon as this week, Facebook is going to prioritise News Feed items from friends and family over public content, including posts from businesses, brands, and media. It will also focus on prioritising community engagement in the form of ‘posts that spark conversations and meaningful interactions between people’.
Zuckerberg and his team are out to improve the user experience of the world’s biggest social network. And why not? Surely that should be our aim too? Marketing is about content and social is no different.
What do you need to do?
If brands start conversations about subjects, products or services that users are interested in, share great photos and videos and listen to what their fans have to say – what’s not to like?
There isn’t any value in tricking potential fans on to your page with click bait – it won’t deliver you the sales or other results you need in the short or long term.
So in summary we think that if you have something your audience wants and you package it in the right way you shouldn’t have too much trouble negotiating these changes.
Some simple tips you can employ:
Don’t use capital letters – real conversation and compelling content instead please.
Don’t ask your fans to offer up their friends for your benefit – TAG A MATE WHO won’t be making an appearance in your newsfeed any more.
Do ask questions and encourage your audience to talk to you.
If you want to push a product or service and want to guarantee that your audience see it, for now at least, you’re going to need an ad. And there’s a chance it’s going to cost you more than before so make sure you’ve got your audience right and monitor and evaluate all the time.
Still not sure what to do next? We offer a Sociability Profiling service which might help. We’ll review your existing strategy, results, content plans and help you evaluate if it will help you negotiate these coming changes.
It’s not all about Facebook…there are plenty of channels out there which might even be better for you when reaching your target audience. We have a blog on Instagram coming next – sign up to our newsletter here to be the first to read it.