We’ve all been (stuck) living with the newest set of Facebook changes since mid-January. So, now that we’ve had some time for the new changes to settle in and for us to (try to) get acquainted with them, let’s take a look at what we’ve been seeing.
5 Ways Facebook has Changed with the New Algorithm
– Uploaded videos receive fewer views than they did before. Facebook considers video watching as “passive”, and that’s why Facebook Live videos tend to do better than non-Live videos…Live videos tend to get more engagement. Speaking of engagement…
– Getting Reactions (likes, loves, surprises, etc.) matters more than views or even website link clicks. It’s interesting that a like would “count” more than someone clicking through a link to read an article since article reading is far more interactive and less passive than simply giving a post a “thumbs up”. But this is Facebook after all. Make sure you are clicking to invite people who reacted to your post, to like your Page, too! This is an excellent way to organically grow your Page Likes count.
– Shares are through the roof Considering the long list of downsides for Facebook Business Pages due to the algorithm, it’s amazing to me to see how often posts get Shares now!
– Page growth rates have stayed the same Across all the Pages I manage, I have not seen any sign of a slow down. Page growth has remained steady for small to mid-sized pages.
– More time is being spent on other platforms This is purely anecdotal. But I’ve found myself as well as other social media managers I speak with, spending more time ourselves and for our clients on other platforms. If you have yet to reconsider your social media strategy, there’s still time to do so. Even if you remain consistent with what you are doing on Facebook, it’s important to spend some time thinking about if a second platform is a good move for you, or if you need to be putting more time into other existing profiles you have.
But wait…there’s more!
Separate from the specific discussions about the algorithm changes are the changes made to Facebook’s Reach. Facebook modified the Reach counts of ads as well as organic Page posts. The old way of calculating Reach counted a user as being Reached if that post or ad was simply put in that user’s News Feed. Now, however, the Reach number has been corrected to reflect only those people who actually scrolled past your ad or post.
Yes, that means that previously, even if a user didn’t actually scroll down far enough to see that post or ad, if it was made available in that user’s feed, that user was counted as having been “reached”.
Your Reach number was likely made even lower due to this change. However, now you can be confident that the number of people being shown as Reached with your post or ad, is valid.
I guess we need to take solace in the little things, right? 😉
