Episode 20: Facebook Algorithm 2018

Lunch With The Garzas

Facebook Algorithm 2018

What is an algorithm?

The facebook algorithm is a set of calculations used to decide what content we see.

Chronological feeds are gone, you get what you are given.

Why does Facebook continue to change the algorithm?

Businesses & brands were doing great, but so was ‘Fake News’ Fake News: intentionally untrue articles, that aim to ruffle feathers, or pander people, in order to get large amounts of shares. Facebook was being riddled with fake news & becoming known for it, which caused it’s reputation to take a beating. The 2018 updates have been dedicated to
taking action against fake news regain trust reaffirm FB as a platform for community and meaningful social interaction.

“Time Spent is not a goal by itself. We want the time people spend on Facebook to encourage meaningful social interactions” - Mark Zuckerber, November 1st 2017

Unfortunately, business owners have taken a hit during these changes. Facebook has started serving their content a lot less, favoring personal content from users.

Business owners have encountered large drops in traffic.

The News Feed

Facebook’s news feed and how it’s ordered and presented is based on four things:

Inventory Signals Predictions Score

Inventory:

This is how Facebook refers to all the available content on Facebook, whether it’s posts from
friends family groups that you are in pages that you have liked

Signals:

These are what Facebook uses to help choose which content goes out. It includes a list of criteria. We’ve listed all the ones we know here:
Who posted the content When was it posted What time is it now Technology (what type of phone, how strong is the internet connection) Content type Average time spent on content How informative the post is Completeness of a profile
These last signals are stated to be ‘Meaningful Interaction’ and they will be prioritized:
Comments and likes on a person’s status or photo Engagement with publisher content posted by friends Shares on messenger Replies to comments on a video

Note: Facebook gives more weight to conversations between people than they will to those between a page and a person.

Predictions:

This is where fb uses your profile and previous behaviors to decide what to show you. They attempt to work out how likely you are to like or interact with content, keeping stuff they think you won’t engage with out of your timeline.

Score:

This refers to a value assigned to a piece of content that will determine it’s relevancy to the user The higher the score, the more likely it will appear in the feed. Content will get different scores for individual people.

EXAMPLES:

HIGH SCORE: A friend posts an article as their status with their thoughts on the article. Catches interest of your other friends: like, react, comment, debate. Dad send you the link to the same article. Facebook sees all of your friends sharing, talking about it, and sending it through messenger. Facebook thinks this is something you will interact with. Friends post appears at the top of your feed all day Eventually you comment.

LOW SCORE: A page you haven’t interacted with in five years posts. They do not have all of their info filled out, they do not have a profile picture. No one comments or likes Out of the 8k people who like the page, 10 people click on the link Facebook is not going to give this a high score for you and it’s unlikely that you would see this post in your fee.

What does this mean for publishers and brands?

Harder to reach people. Posts from pages will struggle. Facebook doesn’t think pages are as likely to generate genuine engagement between people, which to be fair, is probably right.

Best Practices for the new algorithm

Shift from popularity and attention-driven content to content that creates substantial engagement.

Publish High-Quality Content

Quality & relevance should always be on the forefront of your FB strategy. If you are posting spammy content, or content that has nothing to do with your audience, your post will have little to no effect.

Focus on Audience Needs

Share things that are meaningful to others. Only if they engage emotionally and personally will they feel the need to comment, share or interact with your content. You need to have a deep understanding of your audience
Their challenges Fears Motivations Anything that gets them involved.

Post Interaction-Worthy Content

Questions
Recommendations & advice Sparks interesting discussions Helps you understand your audience better
Timely, relevant topics
Stuff that is going on right now. If it’s on other’s minds, they are more likely to share their perspective and take part in conversation
Videos & other visual content
Visual is better than text. Video takes the crown in terms of engagement.
Personal Stories
You aren’t just a brand, but also a person Facebook aims to be about personal connection Be personal. Interact with followers like you would with your friends to make a meaningful impact.

Take Part

Reply to comments, take to followers. Keep conversation going to push your posts in the news feeds

Live Video

One of the most effective content types Averages 6 times more interactions than regular video clips. One of the concrete mentions for content that will continue to perform well under the new algorithm.

“At a recent social media conference, it was clear that brands that rely on Facebook for their digital marketing have 3 options:

Increase their fb ad spend budget to promote posts (not something many businesses can do) Keep FB in the mix but also incorporate other platforms Utilize facebook live, which now has a higher organic reach than other types of non-paid posts”

Rebecca Kowalewicz, Clearbridge Branding Agency

Encourage Audience to Follow your page or profile

Even if organic reach is harder to achieve, people who follow your page will continue to see your content. Especially ‘See First’ Actively ask followers to follow your page.

Create Groups

Groups are used by more than 1 billion people worldwide. Facebook is pushing their groups functionality. They are formed around specific interests and generate a lot of conversation.

Analyze and benchmark your performance

Post at the same time that your followers are online.
Increases the chance of them seeing it
Figure out what your audience loves, and post more of that.

Avoid Engagement Bait

This is not meaningful interaction & it can result in demotion of page posts!!

What is engagement bait?

Vote Baiting
“Vote on your 2018 goals” Photo with 4 options: Be more fit, find love, get promotion, move cities.
React Baiting
“Like this if you’re an Aries or LOVE this if you’re a Leo to find true love!!
Share Baiting
“Share with 10 friends for a chance to win a new convertible!”
Tag baiting
“Who is the mystery girl?! Tag friends who look like her, if enough people comment, I get to keep this painting!”
Comment Baiting
“Comment YES if you love rock as much as I do!

2018 Priorities for News

Trusted Sources: showing more posts from publishers the community finds trustworthy Informative Content: Prioritizing news that people have told us they find informative Local News: Making it easier for people to see news that is relevant to their local community