Facebook Newsfeed Changes Favor Friends Over Business
Like a California earthquake on the San Andreas Fault (its biggest) the state of social media was just shaken yet again and the epicenter was in Menlo Park CA with it’s biggest player, Facebook.
And, just like a California earthquake, it comes as no surprise that Facebook changes happen often with timing that is pretty much unpredictable.
What is predictable is Facebook is going to do all possible to keep member newsfeeds as engaging and relevant as it can for users. Last week’s update was to its all important newsfeed places new emphasis on surfacing links and stories shared by friends vs. those posted directly by a business or media outlet.
The changes are designed to make Facebook more personal, more relevant, more useful and more friendly. This doesn’t exclude all businesses, just the ones who are doing ‘advertising’ the old school way – ‘broadcasting brand messaging’
In other words, if your small business has been posting directly with simple promotions and no compelling story those types of entries will see even less newsfeed distribution by fans of your business than ever.
How do you overcome this? You can still pay to get your posts into your fans newsfeeds but that can get expensive and just how effective has that been for you in the past?
A better solution is to provide the type of content that people want to share with their friends and that means a story. It does not have to be long – in fact short is usually better. But it does have to be sharable.
Telling sharable stories about your business, on Facebook and other social channels, is easier than you think. Here’s a video of a talk I gave to Small Business Owners about Story Marketing that will give you a flavor on how to get started and a foundation to build on.
VIDEO – San Francisco Small Business Week – VIDEO
