Facebook Update: You Need Better Content and a Bigger Ad Budget

By Stevie Sleeter, Content & Social Media Manager

Published: December 10, 2013

In an announcement this week, Facebook warned Page administrators that Page reach is likely to decrease in the near future unless we seriously consider some spikes in social media advertising budgets. Facebook is being more blunt about the fact that marketers are going to have to pay for reach — getting their Page posts visible to a large portion of their Page fan base.

We’ve started to see organic reach of Facebook Page posts drop off as fewer people are seeing Page content, and Facebook is acknowledging it.

Envano Facebook Page

A Facebook spokesman confirmed that the overall organic reach of Facebook posts from brands is in slow decline. “We’re getting to a place where because more people are sharing more things, the best way to get your stuff seen if you’re a business is to pay for it,” he said.

The near future is likely to require increased paid ad spend on the social network in order to maintain high engagement and reach with most of your Page’s current fan base. This announcement from Facebook concludes with an ad pitch; marketers are told they should consider paid distribution “to maximize delivery of your message in news feed.”

On top of suggesting a hard hit to advertising budgets, Facebook also announced — as part of that same News Feed algorithm tweak — a shift that will give more weight to high-quality news stories. This comes on the heels of Facebook’s announcement that its referral traffic to news publications was up 170 percent in 2012.

“This means that high quality articles you or others read may show up a bit more prominently in your News Feed, and meme photos or status updates that offer a photo only or text only may show up a bit less prominently.

And while memes, images with words on them, are often viral fodder, Facebook seems to think that high-quality news stories will be more popular.”

What Does This Mean for The Success of Your Page?

This change in Facebook’s News Feed algorithm tells us something we really already knew: custom, high-quality content is essential for your marketing. If you’re not blogging and integrating that blog with social media, you need to.

Moving forward, here are the key takeaways:

  1. You must provide value — whether it’s through informational or educational content. Photos alone aren’t going to do it anymore. A good photo needs to be tied with good, quality content.
  2. If you’ve been operating on Facebook without spending any money for promotion, you’re in for a rude awakening. Think of Facebook as another element of your advertising budget. As competition heats up on social networks, so too does the drive for monetization for these social companies.

Put simply: If you want your message seen on Facebook, you must create and share valuable, relevant content that you are ready to pay to promote. 

It will take a shift in the strategy and tactics when it comes to Facebook success. We’ve already started shifting accordingly with many of our social accounts, something we’re all to used to in our day-to-day social endeavors. Like us on Facebook to see how we’re adjusting content for the Facebook algorithm changes.

After all, the only thing that is constant is change, right?

We can help you keep up on on the latest in social. Let’s chat!