Facebook is changing the way it works. The impact on your business could be significant with the new Facebook changes.

A couple of questions for you…

• Have you noticed a drop-off in comments and likes on your business page?
• Are you noticing fewer people are seeing your post on your business page?
• How often do you post (or set a scheduling software) to post to your business page?

Facebook is trying to declutter the news feed for users, and move Pages out of the timeline. The tech giant is going old-skool and concentrating on friends and family relationships. New Facebook changes move the focus away from consuming information to engagement.

Making these changes will improve the user experience, and make the platform more enjoyable – who isn’t bored of the “Six Figures in Six Days” ads that pop up?

Facebook has had a lot of criticism for “fake news” and the detrimental impact that social media has on people’s mental health. The tech company’s founder, Mark Zuckerberg released a statement and recognised the company has to also consider people’s “wellbeing.” 

He says with the growth of Facebook, the newsfeed had shifted away from the focus on friends and family, and towards public content. He says: “Since there’s more public content than posts from your friends and family, the balance of what’s in News Feed has shifted away from the most important thing Facebook can do — help us connect with each other…

The key words in his statement are: “meaningful interactions” and “connect with each other.”

If you as a business owner are genuinely and organically connecting with people on your Business Pages, and you’re NOT noticing a dip in reach and engagement. Then your reach and engagement will most likely stay at a similar level.

But most business pages WILL be affected by the new Facebook changes. Facebook recognizes this. The official statement reads: “Pages may see their reach, video watch time and referral traffic decrease.”

And this will be especially true for the Business Pages with posts that have little or no engagement. So, if people don’t comment, post or share your posts then your Business Pages will likely disappear out of the timeline.”  

I’ve been noticing a dip in engagement and reach on my Business pages in the last few months, and this trend will likely continue. The New York Times reported that major news sites are already noticing a significant dip.

So if you’re feeling affected, then here are some ideas to help you with the new Facebook changes.

HOW TO ADAPT TO THE NEW FACEBOOK CHANGES:

Businesses who take the time to create helpful/valuable content will: not see much change to their reach/results or could potentially see MORE REACH/BETTER RESULTS. But you do have to think about how you will engage and interact with your audience.  

Here are some thoughts for you to rework the way you work:

Post less often, but with quality content and engagement.

Think of yourself as a newspaper editor, and creating provocative or informative headlines that trigger discussion.

Videos have 6 x more engagement than a blog post. So, focus on lives that are useful and meaningful to your audience.

Use graphics that are bespoke to that particular blog post. Perhaps ask a question in your Canva graphic (Facebook doesn’t particularly like questions in the posts, particularly if you’re likely to boost a post).

Don’t “bait” people to ask for shares, or “tag a friend” or likes and comments – the algorithms know and will punish you for this.

Scheduling software has a lower reach than posting to Facebook directly.

This is likely to decrease even more as the changes take effect… The scheduling tool in Facebook’s Business Manager will have a better reach for scheduling content going forward rather than using third-party scheduling tools.

Post LESS OFTEN.

Perhaps you used to post 3 times a day using scheduling software. Facebook will regard “over” posting as spam, so try to post less often and you’ll hopefully be seen by more people.