Last week, Facebook announced  that in order to combat “fake news” and over-crowding of its Newsfeed, it will now prioritize content produced by people versus publishers, media and brands. While organic reach has been steadily declining for years, this officially marks the final nail in the coffin.

In his official statement Mark Zuckerberg indicated that users will now “see less public content like posts from businesses, brands, and media” and more from their close connections and groups. Additionally, he said, content emphasizing “meaningful interactions between people” will be elevated in the algorithms that power Newsfeed.

So, what brought us to this place? For starters, Facebook faced heavy scrutiny in the wake of the United States presidential election, after allegations that the platform was used as a pipeline for distributing fake news with the intent of manipulating voters.

Meanwhile, due to an influx of advertisers, Facebook is facing its biggest challenge yet: supply and demand. Its pipeline of available reach (organic or paid) is at capacity, which means the user experience has declined as Newsfeed becomes cluttered with ads. Facebook is no longer a social platform – it’s a media platform. But, if it can’t keep its users, there will be no advertisers.

Exact timelines for this roll-out are still unclear, but one thing is certain: it’s time to rethink your Facebook marketing approach.

Having weathered many of Facebook’s product and algorithm storms over the years, we have some insights to share on how we think the landscape will change in 2018:

1. Pay to Play, But Spend More

Remember, it is a publicly traded company with revenue targets and investors. Facebook needs advertising dollars to exist. Your advertising spend is more important now than ever, but at what cost?

Organically posting photos and videos to generate organic engagement for your business page is no longer going to be enough. The cold, hard truth is that you have to pay to play in the Facebook landscape, and it’s essential to carve out a budget in order to reach anyone at all. Otherwise, there is no point in generating content.

In this new era, Facebook is no longer the “cheap and effective” media platform it once was. It’s still effective (incredibly so), but at a higher cost than ever before. According to a report by Adstage.io, CPM (cost per 1000 impressions) jumped by 172% in 2017, while overall impressions and reach have not increased. This demonstrates a major inventory problem and Facebook’s desperate efforts to moderate Newsfeed for its users.

Is Facebook still worth the media investment? For the time being, yes. Its powerful targeting and reporting systems are second-to-none. But, don’t be surprised if you have to pay more to achieve the same results in 2018.

2. Declining Website Referral Traffic

For a time, Facebook was on track to outperform Google in terms of web referral traffic for some industries. Media outlets in particular, were experiencing a renaissance. Now, Facebook referrals are called into question as the team has blatantly said brands and publishers will experience declining website traffic from the platform.

Does this mean that you should stop posting blogs and links on Facebook? Not completely. A reduction of link posts is definitely in order, but if your business produces thoughtful, educational, provocative content, people will still read it – and, importantly, share with their friends. All this to say that good content will be elevated by the people.

The key here is to monitor your Facebook Insights closely and evolve your content based on performance. Do more of what’s working and remove the things that aren’t delivering outcomes.

3. Less Cadence, More Quality

There was a time when posting seven days per week was essential to keeping the lights on.  However, more is not necessarily better. With the exception of targeted content (for time zones or specific demographics), businesses should aim to produce fewer, but better content – and always amplify with ad spend.

On top of that, Facebook is now focused on quantifying and prioritizing engagement versus simply counting all engagements as equal. A comment trumps a reaction. A longer-comment trumps a shorter comment. The deeper we can engage our audience, the more relevant we will be in this new world.

The Facebook algorithms will elevate content that fuels conversation between people. It’s more important than ever to truly understand your audience and what matters to them, so you may generate the most engaging content possible. Leveraging your insights to get a deeper understanding of keywords, pain points, FAQ, and human truths will ensure you’re on track to keep your tribe talking.

4. More Strategic Use of Video

For several years, we’ve been harping on video as the next frontier in social media marketing. But, does Facebook think we’ve gone to far with it? As video has exploded, quality and quantity of interactions on the platform have declined, due to the passive nature of the medium.

Facebook VP, Adam Mosseri, recently told Wired that not all video is created equal with the algorithm shift. Videos that don’t spark interaction with the audience in some shape or form may be deprioritized.

Facebook LIVE, while not a blanket solution, will be an important tactic in the content mix. Not only do fans receive a notification with a brand page is live streaming, but engagement mechanisms and prompts are naturally built into the user experience.

5. Influencers With Engagement Focus Will Reign

Brands are already scrambling to reach new audiences by any earned or paid means necessary, and the new algorithm shifts bode well for influencers. Even now, the “influencer outreach” checkmark is a staple on most marketing plans.

While we don’t know exactly how the Facebook changes will impact influencer brand pages yet, the speculation is that they will have even more skin in the social media game. This could spark exponential growth in what is already a multi-billion dollar industry.

Identifying and partnering with micro and macro influencers who resonate with your target audience is a winning strategy for the simple fact that personal and curated stories are more relevant and engaging to customers.

Influencers who value audience engagement above reach are most likely to benefit from the halo effect, while those with mass following and little community might suffer. The challenge for this group will be to maintain credibility and sustain engagement in a world where almost everything they publish is sponsored by brands.

Revamping your Facebook marketing strategy? Connect with us! 

Influencer marketing is a mainstay in brand campaigns these days. Savvy social media stars are cashing in big with one-off promotion of products and services on their channels – often times taking it on as a full-time job. But, are brands taking the easy route of paid influence and ignoring advocacy?

For the most part, influencer marketing is a highly effective tool: lower cost per engagement and all the reach you can buy. After all, the notion of paid product endorsements isn’t a new one and there’s a reason why celebrities make a killing on hawking everything from Parisian perfume to canned coffee in Japan. The only challenge is that influence is a short game, while in actuality, the world of true advocacy is a much longer, more arduous journey. And that is scary, time consuming and costly. But, it’s necessary.

Businesses can win over lifelong loyalty one customer at a time; one social engagement at a time; one recommendation at a time.  Whether it’s rallying your internal team members or connecting with your most active customers, here are three ways you can amp up your advocacy game:

Start With Your Team Members

By far, your team members are the most knowledgeable and passionate about your company. There’s a reason why they are working for you – and it’s time to harness that momentum and share it with the world.

Create an environment where team members are invited to share your social media posts, blogs and marketing campaigns. Make it easy by providing them with a mechanism for easy sharing. A simple all-team email, internal communication tools like Slack and Salesforce Chatter, or a more robust solution like Hootsuite Amplify, are great ways to notify team members that there’s new content to share with the world. Integrate prizing and incentives to make it fun and ensure the engagement is sustained.

Amp Up Community Management

If there’s one low hanging fruit that will give you a leg up on your competition, it’s social media response. Every reply to a Facebook comment or a Tweet (good or bad) goes a long way to showcasing your customer service and sales excellence. If you have to invest in one area of your business, it’s customer service – and social media community management is really on the front lines of this. If you can maintain a balanced relationship with your online audience during the good times, it will do wonders to help you rebound quickly from a crisis if something goes awry. A word to the wise: make sure brand guidelines and issues management plans are in place to ensure your community manager has everything thing they need.

Create Opportunities for Reviews and Testimonials

By now we all know that customers trust their peers more than companies. So, if you know your customers have had a good experience with your product or service, why not invite them to share their story with others? Sometimes all it takes is a gentle nudge to remind customers. Ensure that there is a prompt to provide a review in all point of sale or post-sale follow ups, such as on receipts, clothing hangtags, cash desk cards, and confirmation emails.  

Most importantly, find ways to highlight these reviews in the mediums customers use for researching your business. Some ideas to showcase testimonials include: adding a slider on your website, creating a case study, integrating a call-out box on your email newsletter or creating snackable social media content featuring the quotes.

Want to learn more about how to build an advocacy program? Get in touch for details!