Just when you think you’ve got Facebook figured out…they go and change things again. If you’re like many businesses, you use Facebook quite a bit to stay engaged with your clients and customers (and if you’re not, lets talk!). As we mentioned in our August Newsletter, Facebook still has the highest percentage of social media users. That being said, Facebook is constantly evolving and looking for ways to improve the user experience. Some of these improvements may seem great for our customers and clients, but seem like they are hindering our ability to promote our business.
Well, as it turns out, in previous surveys, users actually didn’t like to see overly promotional updates from the brands they follow in their News Feed. So what did Facebook do? Starting this month, “overly promotional” Status Updates from Pages will rank lower (be shown less) in a users News Feed. This will affect your organic reach if all you do is promote your business, sale or contest. However, it’s always been best practice to “mix it up” a bit and not just “sell, sell, sell”, so in the end (sliver lining!) Facebook is requiring us to give our customers and clients what they really want… useful content. That being said, you can still reach your existing/prospective customers with your sales and promos by using affordable Facebook Ads. With a minimum required spend of just $1 per day, you’re missing out on a tremendous opportunity to drive targeted traffic to your website or Facebook page if you’re not taking advantage of this powerful tool.
It always seems that Facebook tries to lessen the blow to us business owners, though, and followed up this news with a spiffy new feature, the Call To Action button! This new feature is still being rolled out over the next month or so, so keep your eyes peeled for it to appear on your business Page. We haven’t seen it yet on our Page or the Pages we manage, but keep us posted when you get yours and let us know how you like it!
Check out five more updates to Facebook for your business and comment with below with what changes you’re most looking forward to using in 2015.