Thousands of marketing teams across the country have huddled together in crowded board rooms, strategizing how to brace the after storm of Facebook’s algorithm change. The headlines say it all, and there’s no doubt that the sharp decline in Facebook’s stock is an indication: The king of social media has changed how we do business in one sleek swoop. If you’re not aware of the change already, here’s a quick rundown.
If you’ve been an avid Facebook user for a few years now, you’ve probably noticed the great shift in content as you scroll through your timeline. No longer do you see your old high school friend who you’ve lost touch with post about their weekend getaway. You’ll have to scroll down a few news articles about the President and a couple cooking videos before you get to see an image or two of your best friend at yesterday’s PR event. This is because, over the years, companies have used Facebook to garner leads. To bring much needed awareness to their digital news platform or their innovative product that has recently launched to market. Many Millennials adopted a sour taste in their mind and migrated towards other social media platforms, such as Instagram and Snapchat. Although social media ads are a heavily profitable revenue stream for Facebook, Mark Zukerberg decided to bring the platform back to its roots. He essentially has put the priority on user-generated content between friends and families instead of the organic (and at times, even paid) traffic received from companies.
So how does this change the job of marketers and agencies, such as online reputation management companies? It’s all about starting more meaningful conversations to engage fans. Companies must now dig deeper into their analytics and understand the psychographics of their fans—a difficult feat to do. It’s one thing to figure out who your target market is, but it’s another thing to concretely know what other purchase decisions they make and the lifestyle they love to lead. Thankfully online reputation management companies have the advantage in this whole change, being SEO pros and all. Think about it this way: An agency who has dedicated years to suppressing bad reviews on social media and Google has a one-up in understanding what customers don’t like. Therefore, it is much easier for such marketers to detect what customers do in fact like.
At internetreputation.services, we create and manage social media profiles in order to remain relevant on Google. The nature of how exactly we remain relevant has undoubtedly changed with the new Facebook update. We recommend that our business clients who are active on social media follow these pointers to improve their engagement:
- Live videos are a continuously blossoming venue. A short interview with different members of your company that intend to give fans a behind-the-scenes understanding of why you do what you do is ideal. Also, use your platforms as a hub to help followers in a method that makes sense for your line of work. For instance, if you sell shoes you can focus on social responsibility issues: How is your company helping to provide footwear for people in impoverished countries? If you don’t currently have a cause, perhaps now is the time to sit at the drawing board.
- Be authentic with your followers. Now is the time to show your human side. What are your employees’ stories, how are you helping to make a difference in this world? What does it feel like to work at your company. Sometimes the days are long and tough—that’s not something that you should simply cover up with a rug. Show your true colors and your fans will thank you for that.
- Don’t rely on Facebook for advertisements anymore. Use them sparingly, and only for special promotions or product launches. Your focus should be building a community of your most loyal customers so that they can do the talking for you.