Most of us still remember when they were watching their friends’ and acquaintances’ photos and posts on Facebook. However, a couple of years ago Facebook changed its algorithm. Suddenly a lot of videos and company ads appeared in the timeline. And now Facebook is about to change its algorithm again. In spring 2018 Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook will support “meaningful interactions” in the future. This means that interaction between friends, family members and within groups will be more important than business content and media news. Facebook is going back to its roots. The result: it becomes more difficult for companies to market their content on Facebook.
The end of Facebook?
Many companies even fear the end of Facebook as an online marketing platform. In fact, the new update complicates the use of Facebook for your business. Nonetheless, Facebook still is the largest and most important social media platform – and you can not afford not to use it. Instead, let us take a look at what Facebook means with “meaningful interactions”. On this basis we will develop strategies for creating those meaningful interaction on your Facebook business page – and thus make your content appear more relevant.
What are “meaningful interactions”?
To measure the importance of interactions, Facebook no longer tracks the time you spend on a page. Now, the algorithm rather distinguishes between passive interactions and active interactions. If you do nothing else than to scroll down the newsfeed and like a post occasionally, Facebook rates this behavior as passive. In comparison, Facebook considers interactions to be meaningful when the communication is deeper, users get more involved, and a real exchange takes place. Above all, Facebook measures active interactions applying the following parameters:
- Comments: Your content is good if it does not fizzle out in the expanse of the internet, but the users respond to it via comments.
- Replies to comments: If you or other users respond to these comments again, a conversation may arise. Facebook regards this as “meaningful” – and rewards your content for it.
- Responses: Facebook is looking for meaning – and meaning comes about from emotions. Facebook likes it when users do not simply like posts, but instead react with an emoticon – grief, anger or love. Spread the love!
- The quality of shared links: Facebook not only tracks whether users share posts, but more importantly, how they do it and how the recipients respond. The reason? Because sharing becomes meaningful only when it happens in person. This is the case, for example, when you send a link via Facebook messenger individually. In addition, shared posts and links are rewarded when they generate interaction.
What you can do in 2018 to create meaningful interactions on your Business Facebook page
Your Business Facebook page will continue to grow well in 2018 if you are able to create meaningful interactions. You can do this in the following ways:
- 1. Continue to create great content that will help and inspire your audience. Great content is the best way to create interaction.
- 2. We all know those baits and we all hate them: “link one person”. “Write a comment”. “Do not forget to share”. Facebook also hates those baits, recognizes them and sanctions them with a bad ranking. Why? Because they are a perfect indicator that someone is trying to feign meaningful interaction while there is actually none at all. What do you learn from this? Make interaction happen naturally and do not throw out any baits.
- 3. Respond to comments below your posts referring to what the person actually said. For this is real interaction that Facebook will reward.
- 4. As long as this is compatible with your business and your marketing strategy, always create emotional content. Maybe your users reward you with a heart, an angry or a sad smiley.
- 5. Produce live videos. For one thing the new algorithm favors live videos, and for another, they encourage discussions and comments.
- 6. Facebook groups are based on interaction. Invest some time and effort in building a community via Facebook groups!
- 7. Invest in advertising. Our ideas can help you keep your business afloat on Facebook. Nevertheless, the organic reach of corporate posts on Facebook is on the decline. Therefore, it may be useful to expand your Facebook marketing strategy via payed ads.
