Earlier this year, Mark Zuckerberg (CEO and Founder of Facebook), announced a major upgrade to Facebook’s newsfeed algorithm that focuses on what they call “meaningful engagement”. The changes mean that Facebook feeds will now display more content from family and friends, with less focus on other pages i.e. business pages. As a user, Facebook is hoping you’ll have a more enjoyable experience via more updates from, and engagement with, friends and family.

As business owners, you’ll no doubt be left scratching your head wondering how these changes will affect you, and how to make sure people keep hearing about your brand and latest product releases while still expanding your audience to achieve business growth.

Here are our three top tips to ensure you still cut through the noise and operate successfully on Facebook:

  1. Make your content engagement worthy

We don’t mean drum up competitions every day asking for comments; Facebook will notice this and will not class it as “meaningful engagement”. Think more about your updates, and ask the following question with every post:

“If I saw this from another brand, would I comment on it, tag someone in it, like it or share it?” If you can answer yes, then post it. If not, think of something different.

  1. Increase your ad budget

Facebook advertising is a great, low-cost way to expand your audience. But now, you’ll want to spend a bit more to really deliver to your desired audiences. We recommend you go through the statistics available to you, survey your customers, and really nail the “who are we talking to” component of social media. Targeting more and having a smaller audience will cost a bit more and have a reach that is lower than normal, but you’ll be guaranteed to get a greater return on investment.

  1. Use live video

Social platforms love video, and live videos generate worthwhile engagement with your audience. In fact, live videos get roughly six times the engagement on average than their non-live counterparts. Think Q&As, announcements, product reviews etc…

So, don’t be afraid. If you’re already providing quality and useful content, you won’t be penalised by Facebook and you probably won’t notice a dramatic difference (or any difference).

WaltersPR (James Kelly)