FACEBOOK ALGORITHM UPDATE 2018: MY STRATEGY CHANGES (THAT YOU SHOULD MAKE TOO)

That time has come again – more algorithm changes to worry about. For a while now, Facebook has been making business reach smaller and smaller (making their ad revenue bigger and bigger) so you might be feeling like this algorithm change is just another bump in the road and really, it’s no big deal. But I’m here to tell you…

…it is.

I’m not trying to scare you or make you feel discouraged – I’m just trying to be real. This change symbolizes the future of online business and has really opened my eyes to concrete ways I can get more reach, subscribers, and traffic in my business. I can see ways that I’m doing things totally wrong – but I’m excited because this means there is opportunity to be the ahead of the curve with the changes I know I need to make. To be honest, I feel like I’m onto something TOTALLY NEW and I know there’s going to be a BIG payoff if I do it right.

There are still ways to beat the algorithm and find FREE reach on Facebook – you just need to make the smart choices.

So that’s why I’m sharing my EXACT Facebook Game Plan – the 9 changes that I’m implementing in my business starting NOW. These are the changes I’m making to be ahead of everyone else who doesn’t know how to adapt (or is too unmotivated to do it).  This is how you get ahead – so grab the game plan and follow along!

I also created a few Facebook strategy sheets to help you map out how you’ll turn your blog posts into usable Facebook content that gets more reach and more clicks back to your website. Pop in your email and I’ll send it all to you right now!

Mark Zuckerberg wrote a long post about the impending changes on his own Facebook account on January 11th. The whole idea behind it is that Facebook wants to encourage more meaningful connections on their site by limiting the amount of promotion and business that you see on your feed. The changes can be broken down into a few key points and I’m going to simplify it all for you – so you don’t have to wade through the mess 😊

Here are the main takeaways from the new algorithm changes…

1. Content from family, friends, and GROUPS will rank higher and show up more frequently on the Facebook news feed.

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Pages must start ENGAGING their audience and prompting sharing and discussion if they want to be shown on the Newsfeed. Also, LIVE video will still be prominently boosted as it is really gaining popularity and meets Facebook’s engagement criteria because it prompts discussion.

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Engagement-baiting is dead. Stop doing it.

SO WHAT DO I DO NOW?

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has never been more essential than before to have people CARE about you and your brand. To trust you, to be excited for you to show up, to check back to your pages. If you’ve been afraid to put personality behind your brand, you can’t be afraid anymore!

Posts with our friends and family get the highest engagement. Why? We know them, we care about them, we’re interested in what is going on with them. We are apart of the community of their life. But couldn’t the same be said for some of your favorite influencers? This change doesn’t have to be bad for brands if they have a following who feels like they have a connection to you, like they would a friend.

And guess what? People WANT personal connection from brands. If you’re following along with my FB Strategy, you’ll see that one of people’s top complaints about brands is a lack of personality on their pages. So it’s time to show that beautiful face and create some connection.

My recommendation? You need to be sharing personal photos, behind the scenes of your business, and you should be doing it mainly through video. Bonus points if you’re sharing through live video because Facebook will bump the reach – enabling you to be found by way. more. people.

You should: Challenge yourself to show up personally twice a week.

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fluencer stock is rising. With brand reach diminishing, companies will be relying on influencers now more than ever to get their message out there.

If you’re a brand, does this mean that you can’t still influence? Of course not. You just have to do exactly what we talked about above – bring your personal side into it. If you’re a fitness brand and you randomly share a skincare ad, who is going to care? Even worse, your followers are going to wonder why you’re sharing an irrelevant ad down their throats. But if you’re a fitness brand owner who engages on social media, shares their love of skincare, and then promotes a product you love? Of course your followers are going to be interested. They care about you, they trust your recommendation, and the ad feels organic because it isn’t coming totally out of no where.

And if you’re aiming to be an influencer, use this as motivation to get your traffic and engagement up – because brands are going to be looking for awesome people to connect with now more than ever. You need to up your Facebook strategy so you have the following to make brand connections.

YOU SHOULD: CREATE AN FB STRATEGY TO GROW TRAFFIC. SHARE YOUR PERSONALITY + GENUINE INTERESTS.

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page content is being shown less and less on the newsfeed so chances that people are seeing your stuff is not high. But group content will be highlighted in these new changes because groups are places where people come together and discuss. So if you’re not taking advantage of Facebook groups, you need to be.

Finding groups isn’t hard but narrowing down exactly how to interact and which groups are working for you is a little trickier. I really believe that you should be active in your groups for at least 20 minutes a day. You don’t want to be salesy – just provide value and link your content wherever you think it would be relevant. When you do have something to share, share it! As long as you’re following by the groups rules and being genuine, it can be a great place to promote your best content. Just spend the time and figure out the best way to show up in each group.

YOU SHOULD: Join relevant groups and be active for at least 20 minutes a day.

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th organic reach diminishing, paid reach will be the next step for lots of businesses. You don’t have to use Facebook ads but they can be SO beneficial when you’re going through a launch or if you want to grow quickly. My business catchphrase has always been “you’re either going to spend a lot of time or a lot of money” and it’s SO true. I know some entrepreneurs who don’t want to hustle in Facebook groups each day. For them, it’s worth it to spend money on ads so that they can have more time personally. It’s all about what works for your business.

In preparation for any product or service launches, it might be a good idea to get FB ad saavy to maximize your results. They can be complicated and you’re going to waste a lot of money by trying to learn ads for the first time during your launch. Learn about them, perfect your strategy, and be ready when you need to use them!

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ve video is still being given priority. For as long as your video is live, Facebook is giving you an extra boost because they love live video, they invest a lot into it, and they want to make sure that it gets seen, shared, and used. Live is going to be a great way to get seen on Facebook.

To me, this change says A LOT – even beyond Facebook. We know video is gaining popularity but Facebook continues to make it clear that video is more than just important – it’s essential. It’s the way almost all content is viewed now and it’s the ticket to more than just Facebook reach, it’s shares, attention, and reach in general. Facebook did a study of viewers in the UK and the UAE and found that video content held a persons attention for 5x the length of static content. And Facebook viewers are Instagram followers, Youtube watchers, and blog readers – these are regular people and video is the kind of content they want.

I talk a lot more about my new video strategy in my FB Game Plan but the video piece is the most important part of any of the changes I’m going to make. I’m revamping all of my content to have video at it’s core because I do think this will be the way to get more traction with my audience!

YOU SHOULD: Go live in on your page as often as possible sharing valuable content that leads back to your email list. Always.

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gagement is usually looked at as percentage – if you have 100 followers and you usually only get one comment or like on your content, you a have 1% rate of engagement. The higher your engagement percentage, the more Facebook sees the content as valuable because more people are interacting with it. And as Facebook has said, they’re focusing on likes and discussion – so these will be the posts they’re showing high on the feed. Both Facebook and Instagram already use this method for ranking content but it’s going to continue to be a huge determining factor in whether you show up on the feed.

If you buy or trade followers, they don’t interact with your content and so though it may make your account look more impressive, this actually works against you. Fake followers drag your engagement rate down because your number is high but you’re not getting the comments or likes that you would with real, organic followers. It would be better to have 100 with 20 who interact (putting your engagement at 20%) than 1000 with 100 who interact (putting your engagement at 10%). The lower your engagement, the least likely you are to be seen.

It can be so tempting, I totally get it. Just remember, quality over quantity.

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is is one of the commitments that I’m getting ready to make because I am absolutely guilty here. It’s so easy and quick to schedule a post for Instagram and Facebook at the same time – but it’s not always effective.

Text is no longer effective on Facebook. Images matter but video is king. The kinds of posts you use on Instagram are not the same kind of content you should be using on Facebook. So it’s crucial for all of us to stop thinking we can do the same thing on all different platforms.

One of the strategies I will be using is repurposing my videos. If I upload a video to my Instagram story, there is no reason I can’t reuse it on Facebook and on my Facebook story! It’s just another way to get more mileage out of my work and though I think we should stop scheduling our Instagram photos to Facebook, sharing videos is a great idea. You just need to be mindful about what works in each space.

YOU SHOULD: INTENTIONALLY PLAN CONTENT FOR WHAT WORKS ON EACH SOCIAL PLATFORM.

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cause both platforms have the same owners, chances are you’ll see similar changes rolling over to Instagram. It’s just a matter of time. Instagram already ranks posts and accounts with high engagement higher in the feed and is emphasizing live video and stories – so you can already see the similarities between the way they’re set up. I don’t expect that to change any time soon.

While we don’t need to get too concerned about Instagram just yet, I recommend practicing some of my FB strategies (particularly with video) and transitioning what you see working on Facebook over to your Instagram.

And there you have it – the future of Facebook marketing.

The algorithm changes have made me seriously reflect on my business model. I want to test some big changes so I can make the most of the platform – and help you to do the same. I really believe that my game plan strategies – some of which are a pretty big leap that no one else is doing – will put me at the forefront of something new.

I will keep track of how these changes are working for me and update you all soon! Don’t forget to steal the plan and the Facebook planning pages so you can be ahead of the curve too! 💕Dot forget to join us live in the Facebook group on Tuesday at 3pm where I’m going to go through the algorithm changes in more detail and my Facebook strategy. I’m also answering questions so if you have any, be sure to join us.