Yesterday Facebook announced changes to the News Feed that have already begun to be introduced to users. Facebook will slowly roll out these changes for web users, followed by similar changes for mobile users.
So what do the Facebook News Feed changes hope to accomplish? Facebook has realized that its user base isn’t spending as much time on Facebook as it once was. On average, Americans spend 6 hours a month on Facebook on the web compared to 12 hours a month for mobile users. The design changes are taken from what users currently see on the mobile version of Facebook, but focus more heavily on eliminating clutter and making Facebook more beautiful.
So what do these changes mean for your business? For starters, if Facebook succeeds in getting users to spend more time on the site, then it will mean an opportunity for your brand page to get more exposure to your audience, your audience’s friends and additional users if you engage in Facebook advertising.To see the changes that are being introduced and sign up to be one of the first to get the changes, you can take a look at Facebook’s post here.
For some time, businesses have seen the benefits of Facebook pages to enhance their brand image, get exposure to fans and customers and increase visibility to potential customers. But with these new changes, promoting your business on Facebook the right way is more important than ever.
Here are three areas that the new News Feed will focus on and what you need to do to take advantage of the changes.
1. Bigger Pictures & Video – Have you been posting text-only posts on Facebook? It’s a sure-fire way to get scrolled past by users when they view their News Feed. Now, with Facebook increasing the size of pictures and video, it’s more important now than ever to ensure that you attach large pictures or video to your posts. Wondering about promoted posts? Attract more attention to your new beautiful posts by promoting posts that are important to your brand. Promoted posts get as much as seven times the reach of a non-promoted post and only cost between $5 and $50. You can do this easily by clicking the promote button on the bottom right of a post on your brand page.
2. Categorized Content – Facebook’s old approach to News Feed was an all-in-one approach, meaning all types of content were mixed together. Now, different types of content will be grouped together. For instance, all upcoming events will appear together on the News Feed. What can you do to take advantage of this? Make sure you are creating events on Facebook! Before, users might not pay too much attention to your events and event invitations because most users get too many invitations and the events anyway and they are not as visible outside of the News Feed in. Now your events will show for users right on their News Feed, so they are more likely to see what you have going on.
3. More Space for Check-Ins – We have always said that a check-in on Facebook is like an endorsement of your brand. When someone visits your physical location and checks in on Facebook, they are telling all of their friends that they are at your business and are happy to be a customer. There are fewer better ways to get a glowing endorsement from customers. Now, Facebook is giving more real estate on the News Feed for users’ check-ins at local businesses. How do you take advantage of this? Find ways to encourage customers to check in when they are at your place of business. Perhaps you can offer a discount on their purchase, a coupon for their next purchase or a free gift for checking in. Even if you can’t offer a discount, simply reminding people to check in, using a sign, will increase the number of check-ins you get and, in turn, the amount of exposure your brand page will get to your customers’ friends.
We have yet to see all of the changes that Facebook is making to the News Feed, but as these changes are introduced, we’ll be sure to let you know how you can get the best use of your time spent promoting your brand on the social network. Until then, let us know if you would like to discuss a strategy for increasing your fan base and getting Facebook users more involved with your brand online.
Know of another business who might need help with Facebook? We’d love to talk to them. Have them give us a call at 757-741-8098 or send a message through our contact page.
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