What is next for Facebook and Instagram?
It can be hard to keep up with all the updates that are happening with Social Media. Often a lot of us don’t even know what’s happened until weeks or months down the track!
In this blog I will share with you what is coming up so you can prepare your pages for whats to come, and to be ahead of the curve.
This Summer, the algorithms are changing. Facebook is testing a newsfeed overhaul.
Here is the new way that Facebook is going to go:
Remove, Reduce, and Inform
More transparency
Remove harmful and misrepresented content
This feature will remove posts that it deems to be harmful, or ‘fake news’. The posts that have comments underneath it saying ‘this is fake’ or ‘this didn’t happen’ will have more chance of being removed. Low quality posts from Explore and Hashtag pages on Instagram will also be removed.
Instagram are also testing removing the Likes from your posts. This reduces the competition of having the best coffee, the best holiday, or the best workout. It tackles an issue that has been prevalent in social media for some time, which is the comparison issue - comparing your life to a photo on Instagram, which has grave consequences for mental health. If you own a business, fear not as you will be able to see your likes for your insights.
Instagram put out as part of a statement:
‘We are testing this because we want your followers to focus on the photos and videos you share, not how many Likes they get.’
Another feature is that Instagram and Facebook are now prioritising the content that people want to see - which can mean significantly reduced reach for stories and posts. On average you only see 30% of all posts. When the changes come into place, Instagram and Facebook want you to see the best 30% possible - this will be based on what you like, comment, and share on the most. So if your business isn’t getting liked, commented or shared, you need to work on your content ASAP.
Facebook Groups are also the future, and if you are a business that can have a group, put it into your strategy now. However you need to be aware that Facebook are putting the group admins in charge of policing the content that goes on in the group, and if the content is not policed, the group will be shut down, and a potentially lucrative part of your business will be lost.
Facebook are also testing what Instagram are already doing, which is combining stories and posts into one feed. This should hopefully get more of your content seen, especially if a lot of your followers don’t watch your stories.
The other thing that might happen, is that Facebook may penalise you if you put too many outbound links. This is difficult for a lot of business owners as you want people to go to your website and this is where a lot of conversion is done. It’ll be good to keep an eye on your stats when this is brought in.
Facebook is concentrating on meaningful interactions. Make sure you are creating posts that invoke these interactions with your followers. Reactions are more valued than likes. Also make sure that you reply to all comments as well. If someone shares your post via Messenger, this also helps!
What is good to avoid?
Posts that are created for the sole purpose of pushing a product or service. Make it more personal.
Posts that push people to enter promotions, giveaways, or contest. You can’t actually run the Like and Share kind of content as Facebook have it in their terms and conditions, so avoid this if you can.
What is your reach like today?
If you don’t put money into Facebook advertising, you are only hurting your business.. Organic Reach today is 1.6% - 2% MAXIMUM. You need to make sure you develop a sound marketing strategy that involves advertising on Facebook. HOWEVER, don’t be tempted to boost. It has a very low conversion rate, doesn’t really target users that are likely to purchase, and just targets users that are online at the time of boosting.
What do these updates mean?
Increased reliance on consumers finding you.
No longer rely on organic reach to attract new customers or engage existing customers
Must have a funnel in place to drive new customers to your business (B2B)
You must have a FB and IG profile for credibility
60% of consumers visit your FB page before visiting shop
80% of consumers purchase if you have an authentic FB page
62% say FB is the most useful social media channel to research small businesses
53% of consumers engage with a Facebook ad first
73% of consumers are influenced by what they see on Facebook when making purchase decisions
It’s a rough road ahead, with hopefully with this info you can make sure you are prepared!
Taryn x