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How the new facebook brand is going to impact your business

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Mark Zuckerberg likes to be seen as a man of the people. In India, he attempted to bring more people online than ever before. He has also tried similar tactics in Africa and other Asian countries. In his personal life, he is giving away more than 90% of his wealth to help the poor. Still, controversy never seems to be far away, what with the current Cambridge Analytica backlash. In an attempt to re-brand his brand name, he’s trying to shift the focus back to social media. Now, the platform will focus on a new news feed algorithm to improve the user experience.

Here’s why it’s potentially bad for businesses, and what you can to limit the damage.

What it means

In simple terms, Zuckerberg and Co are trying to prioritise posts from friends, family and loved ones. Or, as the company puts it, “encourage meaningful interactions between people.” As a result, the algorithm will target pages and business posts that don’t seem to add value. You know? Those pages small companies have been using to raise brand awareness and increase traffic to their sites. Because they won’t appear as much, their impact will be less, and even Facebook agrees. “You’ll see less public content like posts from businesses, brands, and media,” is a quote from the man himself.

How to fight back:

Engage Commentary: One thing which is obvious at the moment is that the push towards meaningful interactions is a euphemism for comments. Facebook wants its user to engage with topics and create debate, and the way it judges this is with the number of comments. As a result, businesses should concentrate on getting their base to post talking points and stir up a conversation online. For example, you can include questions in your posts or try writing about topical content.

Listen To Customers: The experts at em digital/creative make a very valid point. The only way to get people to interact online is to listen to what they have to say. After all, they are the people that will push the topics and get involved, and they won’t feel like it if they don’t have an investment in the firm’s posts. Live video, or video streaming, is an excellent example as it boosts engagement by up to 6 times according to Facebook. Link it to YouTube and you’ll have a whole new audience waiting to voice their opinion.

Avoid Engagement Bait: Whatever you think about Facebook, the business has its finger on the pulse. So, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that it has already closed down potential loopholes. Any company which was thinking of finishing posts with a line such as “tag a friend” can think again. As soon as it spots this type of phrase, the algorithm will class it as a News Feed item. The result will be that it won’t appear on any of your followers’ dashboards and brand awareness will suffer.

After reading the topics above, are you ready to evolve your Facebook marketing techniques?

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Our women don’t want to settle for anything but the best. They understand that success is a journey involving personal growth, savvy optimism and the tenacity to be the best. We believe in pragmatism, having fun, hard-work and sharing inspiration. LinkedIn

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