Facebook Changes Minimizes Viewers
Robyn Miga | @robynmiga
Have you noticed that your Facebook page seems to be reaching fewer and fewer people lately? It’s not just you. In December, Facebook made big changes to their algorithm which shifted the way it selects stories and updates that appear in your News Feed.
In a blog post, Facebook said the News Feed changes were done in efforts to provide more relevant articles to each user’s Facebook experience. Over the last year, data evidently showed that users favored more “high quality articles” over the “latest meme.”
While on the surface this seems as though articles on current events will appear more often, with fewer cat memes, there is more to it than that. This change may have been targeted at ousting memes and sites like Buzzfeed, but it is businesses and professionals that use social media marketing that have taken the biggest hit.
Whether it is a local restaurant posting their special for the day, a big organization posting about new products, or a band posting about their next show, social media is a big part of their ongoing conversation with their fans. With the changes Facebook made, fewer people are seeing these posts if they do not interact with the pages regularly.
One social media marketing agency, Ignite, analyzed 689 posts from 21 brand pages. The agency found that after one week, those brands saw an average decline of 44% of people who saw their posts, according to a Business Insider article. So what do you do to keep your brand in your fans’ News Feed?
How to Stay in their News Feed
Since the changes are preventing customers from seeing brand updates regularly, the only option that does not involve purchasing ads is to have your followers do a series of steps to add your page to see “all updates.” If you don’t have a page, but have wondered why you are not seeing updates from some of the pages you follow, these instructions will help you to stay updated with the pages you like as well.
- Click the “liked” button at the top of the page
- From the drop down menu select "get notifications"
By following these steps it should ensure that you are able to see updates on the pages you follow...at least for now. If you're a business or company, be sure to share these steps with your fans so that they will be able to see your posts too.
We all know that technology is constantly changing, and Facebook is not an exception to the rule. Facebook is shifting because our interests as consumers has shifted. However, it is undoubtedly disappointing that brands would be taking a direct hit with this change. While it is disappointing that extra measures will have to be taken for followers to see your updates, it is still possible for them to get through.
Edited February 25