End Your Outdated Facebook for Business Page Posting Strategy Today

Has your Facebook for business page lost some of its momentum lately?  Have you seen your reach and engagement numbers fall to new lows?  If you social media strategy for Facebook is the same today as it was a year ago, then neither one of these scenarios would be surprising.

Living on the Edge

Facebook Page administrators and social media managers have had an obsession over the past few years.  That obsession was to understand the inner-workings of Facebook’s EdgeRank and, more importantly, how to manipulate it to one’s best interest.  If that is still your obsession, then you need to hit the refresh button as there is a new Facebook algorithm in town.

Out with the Old

In the past, one strategy your Facebook for business page needed to employ for your fans to continue to see its Facebook posts in their news feeds was to get fans to engage (Like, Comment, Share) with those posts by any means necessary. This often meant posting meaningless photo memes and asking brand-irrelevant questions.  Facebook EdgeRank would decide that your fans did not want to see your content if they weren’t engaging it regularly.

A New Life

The new Facebook algorithm gives quality content a new life while punishing low quality, spammy posts (i.e. meaningless memes and brand irrelevant polls and questions).  If your brand is still asking fans to “Like” its posts as part of its social media strategy, then you can expect to be punished as well.  However, if you post quality content, you can not only expect to see your Facebook posts reach more fans, but also you can see your posts get bumped back up the news feed extending the life of your post.

Cheat Sheet

So, how do you take advantage of this new Facebook algorithm?  First, you can think of what kind of content you would like to see if you were a fan of your brand’s Facebook for business page.  Actually, instead of going through that process yourself, it is much easier to read what Facebook has to say on the subject as they already surveyed users to provide that information for you.  Think of this Facebook blog post as your social network cheat sheet for the new algorithm.

Take the Test

After dumping the memes, stopping the Like-begging, and tossing out the polls and questions; start filling your Facebook posts with quality content.  Use a combination of photo posts, link posts, posts with links but no thumbnails, shared posts and status posts and then check your Facebook Insights to see what’s working.  After taking the test, dump what’s not working and amplify what is working.

What changes in your Facebook news feed have you noticed since the social network began phasing out EdgeRank?  Are you happy with the results of the changes?  Share your thoughts in our comments below.