By: Misty Buck, Founder & President of Miss Ink, LLC
Facebook has been all over the news lately from the Cambridge Analytica data scandal (the political data firm under fire for gaining access to private information on more than 50 million American Facebook users) to the resulting trial of the network’s business model featuring testimony by Mark Zuckerberg to the mega change coming to the network’s algorithm.
While Facebook may be the reigning social media champ in terms of user numbers, it’s certainly not the same social network we used to rely on. This due in part to smarter consumers, ever-changing features and policies, and the growth in popularity of other social networks. All of which begs the question, where does Facebook fit into the average businesses’ marketing strategy?
Here’s my take on the state of small business marketing on Facebook in 2018…
Most People Are Not Leaving Facebook… Yet
Despite all of the scandal and confusion, it appears that most people are sticking with Facebook. At least in my personal network, it’s business as usual.
However, several high-profile people (Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak, Will Ferrell, Jim Carrey, and Susan Sarandon to name a few) have decided to take part in the #DeleteFacebook movement that was sparked after the details of the Cambridge Analytica debacle emerged.
For several years now, Facebook has been losing its younger audience and gaining a reputation as a network for an older demographic. Perhaps the list of people leaving the network is a prime example of that. Either way, it’s still an incredible networking tool for small businesses.
The future of its user health will largely depend on sweeping changes to its current data privacy policy, which for the large part is confusing and is broad in scope, and this is assuming people even read the terms in the first place. Secondly, Facebook will have to be very careful with its public relations in educating its users on best practices, making them feel safe, and giving them more control over what is shared about them. Here’s an example of one attempt at restoring the public’s faith.
For marketers, this means that we’ll have to keep an eye on how many people are still actively using Facebook and what changes will be made to advertising policies, which many businesses rely on for awareness and leads. I’ve even read a rumor that insiders are pushing for a paid ad-free version of the network.
What Marketers Need to Know Now
Even before the data scandal went public, Zuckerberg announced major changes to Facebook’s algorithm, some of which have already been put into place and some that will be released throughout 2018.
Here are the Key Points to Plan for Moving Forward
First things first, while the entirety of Zuckerberg’s announcement is included above, here are the most important points that marketers need to understand.
- “The first changes you’ll see will be in News Feed, where you can expect to see more from your friends, family, and groups. As we roll this out, you’ll see less public content like posts from businesses, brands, and media. And the public content you see more will be held to the same standard—it should encourage meaningful interactions between people.”
- “…by making these changes, I expect the time people spend on Facebook and some measures of engagement will go down. But I also expect the time you do spend on Facebook will be more valuable.”
- “At its best, Facebook has always been about personal connections. By focusing on bringing people closer together—whether it’s with family, friends or other important moments in the world—we can help make sure that Facebook is time well spent.”
Keep in mind that my input below is based on the average small business.
1. Organic reach for business pages will be almost nonexistent.
No longer can you hope that your fans will like, one-word comment, tag, or share your way to the top of News Feeds. Facebook is looking for meaningful interactions which means if people are leaving one or two-word responses in the comments or sharing with no commentary, that won’t be considered meaningful conversation. This also means that your ad dollars on Facebook have to increase significantly if you want to be seen in an overcrowded space where the founder has stated he expects people to spend less time on.
What does work organically? It doesn’t have to be complicated. It just has to get people talking. (Diazepam) Here’s an example of one of our client’s Facebook posts that inspired meaningful conversation and as a result performed exceptionally well.
2. The quality of your fan base is more important than ever.
The larger your fan base, the harder it will be to get meaningful interactions proportionate to the number of people connected to your page. In terms of organic reach, thousands of fans won’t mean much if you don’t have a significant number of those people participating in the conversation on your posts or sharing your posts with commentary in their feeds or even on messenger.
3. Your strategy will have to include ways to foster meaningful interactions.
I’m sure you’re probably thinking by now, how in the world do I create meaningful interactions when I’m a small business?
- Know your audience. We’ve been talking about this on our blog for a while now, but your messages have to speak to a specific audience. They have to feel personal to the individual reading them. Create posts that spark conversations about topics that matter to your audience.
- Be personal. People want to talk to people. Make sure your posts have a human, relatable tone.
- Create groups for specific audiences. This is not a place to promote your business. This is a place to build relationships. Check out our article on how to use Facebook groups for business for more tips.
- Try a video series on a specific topic on the same day and time each week whether they are live or pre-recorded. This way people know what to expect from you and when to expect it. If you’re talking about things that matter to them, they’ll tune in.
4. Prepare your robust ad strategy now.
The future of Facebook advertising is uncertain; however, for the time being, our clients are seeing great success with boosting posts and with ads such as lead ads. Once upon a time, a $5 boosted post would be enough to garner significant traction, but those days are long gone. Strategy, including messaging and audiences, is critical to ensuring that you aren’t wasting ad dollars.
It’s important to stay vigilant on the ever-changing state of all social media networks so as to make the most of your marketing efforts. Sign up for our monthly newsletter to know what the pros know (form below) or contact us about our digital marketing and social media management services.
