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Facebook’s latest update

Since its launch in September 2006, the Facebook News Feed has been in a state of flux. From the introduction of Like buttons to the prioritization of popular posts to the crackdown on clickbait and fake news, Zuckerberg and company have continually updated the News Feed to optimize the user experience. Since a 2015 report in the Journal of Experimental Psychology that mindlessly scrolling Facebook could be detrimental to mental health, the platform has concentrated its efforts on driving active participation on the platform.

With the latest algorithm update in January 2018, Facebook overhauled their ranking process to focus on engaging content from family and friends over content from brands and publishers. Vice president of News Feed Adam Mosseri shared in a Newsroom post that the updates would prioritize “posts that spark conversations and meaningful interactions between people.”

How does Facebook determine what is meaningful?

The platform is using reactions, comments and shares to adjudicate how compelling a post actually is. While it may seem that engagement spend is the easy answer to this, friend-to-friend interactions will take precedence. Companies will have to think less about what the brand wants to push, and more about what their target audience wants to see.

What does this mean for content creation?

Creators should put themselves into the shoes of their social customer and ask, “What kind of content would I want my best friend to see?” Thought leadership and philanthropic efforts are more likely to organically take root within an organic community than flash-in-the-pan sponsored posts. Similarly, this type of content is more likely to generate long-term benefits than its ephemeral meme-like counterparts.

Additionally, because we can anticipate that users will be spending less time on the platform, there should be a stronger focus on snappy, succinct content that contributes positively to a viewer’s Facebook experience. Gone are the days of sharing a meandering ten-minute YouTube tutorial on your Facebook page; concise, meaningful content is in.

What does this mean for marketers?

Marketers will need to think outside of the box of engagement baiting to create content that is genuinely engaging, rather than artificially popular. Clickbait-style promotions, including giveaways that use “Comment below!” or “Like this post to enter!” will have higher CPM rates, higher cost-per-click and lower organic reach overall than they have in the past.

It will take months for these updates to roll out across all of Facebook’s products. As we learn more about what these changes mean for brand reach and how to best spend in the new digital climate, one thing is true now more than ever: it’s all about your audience.

Remember that friend you had growing up? You were inseparable. That is, until he became famous. Cue, Instagram. Instagram, do you know who your friends were? Small businesses! Small businesses have to be smart and witty about their content since they typically don’t have the same budgets as big companies. They pushed content creation to the next level by bringing creative ideas, with zero or low cost budgets, to the table.

Instagram recently changed its platform from posting in chronological order to one that is based on an algorithm similar to Facebook. And for a solid reason; the average user misses 70% of the posts and only sees 30% of content shared by the accounts he or she follows. Now, Instagram wants to make the 30% viewed content he most relevant 30%. Of course, advertising on the platform will stay the same, and profiles that have some extra dollars lying around will be able to make it into the 30%. Guess where that leaves small businesses? In the bottom 70%.

Facebook’s algorithm didn’t receive any love from businesses and bloggers when it was first introduced. Those same people still aren’t happy about it, which contributed to the rise of other social media platforms like Instagram. One of my favorite quotes comes from the German politician, Otto von Bismarck who said, “Only a fool learns from his own mistakes. The wise man learns from the mistakes of others.” What does that make Instagram since they are potentially repeating the same mistake as Facebook?

Twitter seems to be the only platform getting it right with its “while you were away…” feature. Instagram can easily duplicate that with their new timeline and chronicle images in a grid for the user to review once he or she reopens the application. He or she can decide what to explore further. If Instagram were to utilize this feature it would make the user’s experience better since the user is being served the content they want to see according to the algorithm. The small businesses, who are trying to break into social media are still capable of gaining the organic reach they depend on for survival, and the big companies can use advertising to be a part of the 12 images. This way, everyone can be a winner and Instagram can have more advertising opportunities for businesses with different budgets.

If you agree, share this article with #KeepInstagramChronological. Instagram is open to experimenting with their new model throughout this month and will be listening closely to the users and businesses.

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