Facebook Algorithm Update: How it affects Small Businesses?

The latest decision by Facebook to update their News Feed algorithm brought many headaches to owners of small businesses. In short terms, from January 2015 Facebook started penalizing promotional posts from brand pages. If you own a small company, you should get informed if and how these changes affect your enterprise. The new policy concerns privacy settings and News Feed algorithm. These are the most recent changes combined with tips for improving your business’ Facebook operation in the future.

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The Prelude

Although these changes were heralded in November 2014, they came into effect in January this year, when the full scale of these changes was comprehended. Behind the scenes is Facebook’s decision to cut overly promotional posts that clog the News Feed, and categorize them as actual paid advertisements. They claim that the users are more annoyed by promotional posts from pages they like, rather than actual ads. They categorized these excessively promotional posts into three groups:

1. Posts that have a role of persuading people to buy products or download apps.
2. Posts that are trying to convince people to apply for promotions and sweepstakes.
3. post that are featuring the exactly same content as ads.

What is New?

As an effect of these changes, if Facebook identifies a user who is posting an excessively promotional content, those users or brand page admins will experience decreased reach of their posts. In a nutshell, not only will you see fewer posts from your friends promoting their businesses, but your reach will also be limited if you do the same. A reason behind this decision, Facebook states, is that they want their users to be engaged on a higher level. An immense number of brands are using Facebook as a part of their social media strategy, and a lot of brands means a lot of competition, which in return causes a lot of clutter on the News Feed if every brand is promoting itself.

How are Brands Affected?

However, if you have already adopted a strategy of posting only such content that is relevant to your fans, you are more or less hedged from this change in algorithm. Last year it was already announced that rich content and non-aggressive approach gains higher engagement, so many brands have made the transition from promotional posts to content that would be interesting and helpful for their audience.

However, if your posts are still buzzing only about what your brand has to offer for this season, you’ll find yourself among those who will experience the crippling effect of the new News Feed policy. Instead, you should try Facebook Ads, which is a platform better suited for such kind of posts.

New Role of Facebook Pages

This, however, doesn’t exclude brand pages completely. They will still be out and about but in the limited range. These pages actually have their purpose, and that is to give users a free, easy-to-maintain online presence where they can learn about a business. Their convenience comes from the fact that they can be accessed from desktops, smartphones and tablets with no information loss. 

They are also a backdrop for creating videos, photos and events that are keeping the brand presence alive. Pages are valuable resources for current and prospect customers. Their role should be reinvented as an online embassy, and not a merely publishing service. 

The goal of these changes was not to eradicate promotion completely. Rather it was to promote creativity and offer the users quality content which will stand out in the ocean of competition.
These changes reduced organic reach of brand pages to a minimum, but you will find Facebook still important for your small business. You can increase your community by giving fans interesting and relevant posts, and pay for advertising if you want to promote a service or product.

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