Why Facebook advertisers need to get people talking

On Friday, Mark Zuckerberg announced a change to the Facebook algorithm. From now on, Facebook will prioritise content that ‘encourages meaningful interactions between people’.

Each time Facebook tweaks its algorithm advertisers are forced to rethink their social campaigns, and the latest changes are no different. Reading between the lines of Zuckerberg’s speech, it seems successful content will be that which creates interaction within communities, and helps them ‘feel more connected and less lonely’.

Social strategies will now rely more on uncovering conversation points and people with credibility within communities, or creating content that also appeals to the friends and family of a given audiences.

So how should brands react? Should you include a star social media creator, or a celebrity, or a hot topic that people have a strong opinion about? Or is a grassroots campaign or local business event more appropriate?

These new strategies no longer allow for content to be repurposed across platforms. Instead, each platform needs bespoke ideas. Equally, creative executions need to be deployed at the same time that real-time conversations are happening.

Engagement baiting has also recently been put on Facebook’s hit list, with ’share, tag, vote on...’ posts being demoted.

And it’s not just the posts you create that need review: if you’re linking people through to your website, make sure it’s quick to load or you could be hit with penalties.

For a list of all the relevant changes to the Facebook news feed algorithm see this Buffer article

In the meantime, perhaps now is the time to start a Facebook group for your business?