Do you use Facebook for business promotion? Great! It’s one of the most effective communication channels, measurable in detail, providing endless possibilities for precise targeting and audience interaction.
Be careful though! If you use posts to encourage fans to unnaturally share, like or tag friends in order to increase reach and spread content, you may be doing more harm than good. Many social media managers use this very “tool” in the form of contests, wannabe funny posts, or simple requests to attract new fans and expand their audience. None of this would be a problem if these posts weren’t openly asking for sharing, liking or tagging friends. In many cases, this is how contests are conditioned, for example. It should be noted that this very often works, but we could at least have a discussion about the relevance of the fans gained to the business.
Facebook, however, is now a little smarter again and can use machine learning to identify such challenges, or engagement bait, and limit and penalise a page or person based on their search. Which means that this user will then appear much less in the news feed of their fans and Facebook users in general :( :( And we don’t want that in any case.
In a way, of course, this is a good move. This way Facebook won’t be cluttered with inappropriate content that annoys and disinterest users. So you won’t be forced to fulfill requirements for contests, like sharing or tagging friends you’re not comfortable with, etc. The quality of the content will increase or at least be more sorted.
The rules set are so sophisticated that posts that have, for example, wanted people or animals where sharing and natural requests are desirable will not be downgraded. Likewise, Facebook will allow requests to share charitable projects.
Are you now upset or disappointed that you can’t continue to use the aforementioned working strategy? Don’t despair, it wasn’t a good way to go anyway and the audience you gained this way only rarely came down to a purchase.
How then to communicate properly on Facebook? The key to success is relevant, engaging and naturally viral content that is interesting enough for the target audience to like and share it naturally, i.e. organically. The ideal for business pages is to combine quality content marketing with paid advertising.
We have extensive experience with both content and paid social media, please contact us if you need any consultation, advice or assistance!