Did You Sleep Through The New Facebook Changes For Business Pages?

Did You Sleep Through The New Facebook Changes For Business Pages?

I did.  January rolled in like any other month and WHAM, the number of people seeing our posts on the MLC Facebook page bottomed out.  I couldn't figure out what was going on.  Apparently I slept through this letter Facebook posted to owners of business pages.  This is what January looked like on the MLC Facebook page.

That was staggering...and overwhelming.  

The letter starts by saying that the goal of Facebooks "News Feed" has been to show people what they want to see.  They surveyed users and asked how they feel about what they see in their News Feed, and those users overwhelmingly wanted to see less promotional content.  Promotional content = how we keep in touch with customers on Facebook.

They go on to say that they are applying more controls to promotional posts, so people see more of what they want from our Pages.  They outline three key traits that make posts feel too promotional.

1. Posts that solely push people to buy a product or install an app
2. Posts that push people to enter promotions and sweepstakes with no real context
3. Posts that reuse the exact same content from ads

Facebook goes on to say that in January 2015, people will see less of the above mentioned type of content.  They acknowledge that this new approach might raise questions about pages and their role within Facebook and they reassure us that "pages still matter".  Which leaves them sounding slightly like they are breaking up with us.

They do offer us a little bit of advice in saying that businesses should think of their Facebook page as the cornerstone of their business rather than a publishing service.  The cornerstone of most businesses is advertising and what this letter doesn't come out and say is that we can still reach our customers by paying for them to see each post.

In short, I still believe in Facebook for business.  I have made connections and formed relationships with many of my customers this way. 

If you are following MLC on Facebook, then you want to make sure you are getting the news about 5 For $5.00 Fridays, giveaways, promotional events, discounts, and more.

Like and Follow us.  By clicking the follow button at the top of our page you will be sure to continue to get our updates in your News Feed.

 If you missed this letter like I did and have been overwhelmed by the lack of communication with your audience, you can still boost posts for as little as $1.00/day and advertise your page for as little as $1.00/day.  You can reach as many people who like your page as you want, you just have to understand that now you will have to pay for it.  Organic reach for Pages is over.

If you are still confused and think you should look into what you can do differently this year, you can review Facebook's Page publishing tips and best practices. 

I came across a great blog post by Pam Dyer at Pamorama.  She gives us some insight into how we can raise our engagement rate.

Im pretty sure with the new strategy Facebook has rolled out, we can all use some great advice.

How To Raise Your Engagement Rate

from Pamorama

If you are still confused and think you should look into what you can do differently this year, you can review Facebook's Page publishing tips and best practices.