Bloggers: Do Not Freak Out Over Facebook’s Changes

This article originally appeared on 60 Second Social.

Recently we learned that Facebook is going to be making some pretty big changes to their algorithm and how it fetches and presents content to you. It turns out that if you have a page where you regularly publish content to, then it could be harder to get it to surface on people’s timelines so that they can read it. A statement from Facebook said that;

“A lot of the content people see as too promotional is posts from Pages they like, rather than ads.”

So with that in mind, what is ‘too promotional’? Well according to Facebook there are three different types of posts that can fall under that category.

1. Those that push people to buy brand, product or app
2. Those that push people to enter a contest with no contextual basis ie. clickbait
3. Those that reuse the same content in the form of advertisements

What Facebook is not making clear is where posts linking back to blogs will fall under the new “advertisement” guidelines. Many bloggers rely on Facebook to promote posts, campaigns and events. With the new guidelines in place there is a big possibility that your content may not show up in users feeds unless you are paying Facebook to boost the post and promote it.

For bloggers and content creators, that is a BIG deal. Most of us blog as a creative outlet and despite what some people seem to think, we are not cashing in on a WordPress windfall every time we hit the publish button. Boost my post? That is a hit on an already empty wallet! So what can we do about it?

Well the first thing is relax, don’t panic. Stop and breathe, there is no reason to freak out or over react. In fact, we have been here before with Facebook – several times. Facebook has changed their algorithm in the past which as limited organic reach and we have still managed to promote content and survive on Facebook despite this.

While Facebook can still be an important form of communication for bloggers, there is no reason we have to keep it as a top priority or a primary channel of communication. Look into alternative forms of content promotion.

Start to build up your subscriber list so that people interested in your content will never miss a new post or update. Did you know that according to SalesForce, 70% of people open emails from their favourite companies and bloggers! Email marketing is a great source of organic marketing for your readers. Send out periodic newsletters, maybe once a week, to keep people coming back for more.

Use your own blog to run ads and promotions for your content, add calls-to-action to the end of your posts and encourage people to sign up to the newsletter, comment and follow on social media channels that can deliver the content to them as you publish it…like Twitter.

If you have Google Analytics in place on your blog then look at what channel you are getting the most referrals from. Dedicate more time to the channels that are actually generating the highest amount of referrals, if people are flocking from a particular service such as Twitter or Google+, then show them some love!

Don’t panic, even if Facebook is currently a primary form of communication that you use for blogging now, look for ways to diversify and to try something new. Follow the data and focus on where the traffic is coming from the most, with Facebook changing their algorithm I can almost guarantee that for many bloggers, your referrals are coming predominantly from another channel of communication.

About The Author

Mark is the founder of 60 Second Social media where he provides social media news and digital marketing analysis, he is also a proud father of his bearded dragon, Lola. You can follow him on Twitter here. You can also follow 60 Second Social on Twitter here.