Facebook just updated their news feed algorithm again and this time it’s all about authenticity. Should you be worried?
Facebook have always been clear about what they want us to post on our pages. They’ve stated it again in the latest update.
“Stories that are relevant to [your] audiences”
As marketers we’re always looking for a quick fix, a special trick that will hack the feed and increase our reach. If you are guilty of this the latest algorithm tweak is aimed at you.
The first part of the update relates to ‘Authentic communication’ and that’s what I’m going to look at in this week’s one minute moment.
Be Authentic – What the latest news feed algorithm means to page owners
What does the update mean?
Facebook announced this update to the algorithm in a blog post on their newsroom blog.
“With this update, we’re adding new universal signals to determine whether a post might be authentic. To do this, we categorised Pages to identify whether or not they were posting spam or trying to game feed by doing things like asking for likes, comments or shares.”
At first this looks like a swipe at fake news but when you examine it closer it’s a way to penalise pages that are consistently being spammy.
Fake news isn’t the only problem on Facebook. Clickbait stories, where a sensationalist headline leads you to a far from sensational article has been something Facebook has being trying to combat with the algorithm for years.
Like & Share contests might be against the rules but pages ignore the rules. This latest update should target that content and limit the organic reach these type of update gets.
What should you do?
Look at each post before you hit publish:
Is it interesting? Entertaining? Informative? helpful?
Does it give value to your audience?
Is it spam?
Don’t ask for a like, don’t ask for a share, don’t try one of those silly posts that asks people to like if you love your mother and share if you love your kids. Don’t run pointless competitions that ask for like or share. Don’t post clickbait
Do be relevant, helpful, useful, post stuff your target audience will want to interact with.
Create a content plan. Don’t worry about posting all the time, just post the best.
What works for you?
Will this news feed change effect you? What content do you post that helps you build authentic relationships with your audience? I’d love to hear your tips.
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