How the three latest Facebook updates could impact your Business Page.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
The latest updates from Facebook could potentially see a further decline in your post reach and referral traffic.
But what exactly are these three brand new updates and what do they mean for your Facebook Business Page?
There was definitely a sinking feeling down at Smokey Joe’s Business Bar when we first heard the announcement on new updates from Facebook which will change how content is delivered to the user’s news feed.
Even before we’d heard any of the details, we instinctively knew that it was going to be bad news for Business Page owners.
It always is.
I can’t remember the last announcement from Facebook which included any good news for Business Pages.
One business owner in the bar was still happy to admit that he was intrigued, though.
“I’ll be fascinated to see how they can make my post visibility go any lower than it already is!” he howled.
As the details were slowly revealed to us, it unfortunately looked as if our instincts had been right.
It certainly punctured the mood in the bar.
Such a shame after the pirate-themed Karaoke competition had gone down so well, too.
The new updates were officially unveiled in a new Facebook Blog post written by Product Manager Max Eulenstein and User Experience Researcher Lauren Scissors.
Most of the big changes relate to balancing the news feed content between posts from personal friends and ‘pages’.
As you can probably already imagine, it’s the ‘pages’ which are now walking away with a tougher deal and less visibility.
So let’s take a closer look at each of the three new updates in turn…
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Update 1
The first update is quite a minimal change really.
We’ll be getting slightly more serious and gloomy as we go along!
This first change essentially relates to a new relaxing of the rule concerning multiple posts from the same source appearing in a row, and it mainly affects users who don’t really have a lot of content to see in their news feeds.
In the past, Facebook had a rule which prevented multiple posts from the same source – for example, the same friend or the same ‘page’ – appearing together in a row.
This was probably because it looked a little odd if your news feed appeared to be dominated by a single friend or a single page.
This rule has now been relaxed, so that users who perhaps don’t have much content to see in the first place will still get to see as much as they possibly can in their news feeds.
Now, this could potentially have been good news for business pages.
After all, it seems to suggest that all your posts are now far more likely to be seen by your followers, even if you’re posting on a very frequent basis every day.
However, this slice of mildly promising news is almost completely cancelled out by the next two more worrying updates…
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Update 2
It’s worth bearing in mind that these updates haven’t just been implemented on some casual whim.
They are actually a response to the feedback generated from users who participated in a recent survey in which they were asked to rate their personal news feeds.
Whilst the news is not good for business pages, it has to be taken on board that the updates are understandably focused on improving the news feed experience for the typical personal Facebook user.
So, this second update concerns the mix of displayed news feed content from personal friends and ‘pages’.
Apparently, many users were worried about ‘missing’ new posts from their personal friend list because their news feed was filled up with too many posts from ‘pages’.
You can kind of see their point in a way.
I’m sure the majority of personal users log into Facebook to see new photographs and videos and updates from their friends.
The main concern seems to be that posts from Business Pages and other pages could be squeezing out some of the more personal content.
Of course, the solution is inevitable.
From now on, content posted by friends will be given considerably higher ranking and prominence than content from pages.
So the disappointing result for Business Page owners is that your followers are now even less likely to see your posts.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Update 3
You usually see a mixture of different ‘types’ of stories in your news feed which are generated from different types of actions.
For example, the most common form of story is likely to be a ‘direct story’ from one of your friends.
This could be a status update, a photograph, a video, or anything at all which has been posted directly by a friend or perhaps even by a page you follow.
However, you were also likely to see ‘indirect stories’ which popped up in your news feed because one of your friends had simply commented upon or ‘liked’ a post from a different source not directly connected to you.
Naturally, this was a good thing for Business Pages.
If one of your followers had liked or commented upon one of your posts, there used to be a reasonably good chance that this activity would show up in the news feeds of their friends, which would help to spread awareness of your page.
I think you can perhaps already imagine what’s going on with the final new update from Facebook.
Yep, the feedback from the survey has indicated that most users prefer to see ‘direct stories’ over ‘indirect stories’.
So, ‘direct stories’ will be ranked much more highly in the future, whilst activity relating to your Business Page is now even less likely to pop up in a stranger’s news feed.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
What does all this mean for your Business Page?
In truth, it’s just yet another sign of dwindling visibility for your business page on a Social Media platform which is understandably geared heavily towards the best possible experience for the typical everyday personal user.
I’m pleased to report that the Martin Print Facebook Page is still going strong, and we’re still able to reach a pretty big audience with creative ideas and special offers on gorgeous printing and results-driven design for your business.
But our continuing visibility is very rarely achieved through free ‘organic’ posts anymore.
The overwhelming majority of our posts are now paid for and ‘boosted’ as this now seems the only way to achieve any remotely worthwhile results on the platform at all.
As noted before on this very Blog, Facebook has long been developing into a Pay-To-Play platform for businesses, and these new updates only serve to signal the continuing decline in free organic reach.
If you want to attract real results and gain genuine visibility, you’ll first need to cross Facebook’s palm with silver…
But what do you think of the latest decisions to push pages further away from the Facebook news feed?
Are you happy to pay for promoted posts and still reach a big audience at a relatively low cost?
Or are you beginning to re-focus your resources on alternative platforms such as Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest?
Clik here to view.
Send to Kindle