How facebook operates

How to Use Facebook: A Beginner’s Guide

Facebook has changed quite a bit since I first signed up for an account in 2008. Back then, Facebook was still called “The Facebook”, and my bio literally said, “Check out my MySpace, it’s waaaay better than my Facebook.”

Needless to say, Facebook has evolved at breakneck speed since my middle school years, and it’ll keep adapting at a swift pace for as long as it exists.

If you need a refresher on how to use Facebook for marketing your business or you want to sign up for a personal account, check out this in-depth explanation of how to use the most popular social media network in the world.

What is Facebook?

Facebook is a social media network that connects people through an online platform. By sharing content like text status posts, images, videos, and external links like blog posts, Facebook users can contribute ideas and join conversations with other people who share the same or different interests.

In addition to sharing their own ideas, users can engage with the content other people share on Facebook by reacting to it with a like, a laugh, disapproval, and even a hug. Comments and shares are additional ways users can interact with each other’s content.

Facebook for businesses works similarly, except businesses have Facebook Pages not profiles like individual users do. Businesses can use their Facebook Pages to engage with existing customers, target new customers, and administer customer support.

To fully understand Facebook and how it works, you’ll want to become familiar with common terms used on the platform. Here is a list of key Facebook terms and what they mean.

Profile

The Facebook profile is where your information will live. Your name, photo, hometown, workplace, education history, and so on can all be added to your profile. You can make your profile as public or private as you want by disabling the information you don’t want publicly visible.

Newsfeed

This is the place where all of your friends’ posts will appear. You’ll also see updates from business pages that you’ve liked. Your posts will also appear in the newsfeed where your friends can see them.

Timeline

Often confused with a newsfeed, the timeline is your personal record of all the posts you’ve shared and posts you’ve interacted with. While you won’t usually see friend’s status updates here, there is one exception — if they’ve tagged you in a post or a photo, it’ll appear on your timeline. Your friends can see your timeline by default if they search your name unless you’ve set your privacy settings to do the contrary.

Algorithm

The algorithm is an elusive concept. Essentially, the algorithm is a series of computations that Facebook’s servers do every second to determine what content you want to see, interact with, and click on next. The algorithm uses dwell time (how long you view a post), engagement, page likes, posts, and more to determine the type of content you might like to see. Over time, the algorithm gets better at determining what content to show you.

Status/Post

The two terms are often used interchangeably, but “post” is the term Facebook uses to describe something you share on the newsfeed. Text, images, videos, and location are just a few of the types of posts you can share to the newsfeed for your friends to see.

Friends

These are people you’ve either sent a request to and they’ve accepted or people who have sent you a request and you’ve accepted. Unlike other social networking sites that allow someone to follow you without you following them back, Facebook’s friend system requires both you and the other person to be friends with each other. A personal account for an individual cannot have more than 5,000 friends (and it’s not a good idea to make a second Facebook profile to get around this rule).

Followers

Facebook has a follower option as well. When you add new friends, you automatically follow them (and they follow you, too). This is Facebook’s way of adding this new friend to your newsfeed and making sure you see their posts (at least for a little while unless you stop engaging with them). For individuals who exceed 5,000 friends on their personal Facebook profiles, people can opt to follow them instead to stay up to date on their posts. Keep in mind, while Facebook automatically follows your friends for you, you can manually unfollow them without unfriending them. This action removes these individuals’ posts from your newsfeed. If you do this, you’ll need to search your friends individually and surge their timelines to catch up on their latest posts.

Groups

Facebook users with similar interests might find it helpful to create a group on the platform. A group is a community of users who interact with each other based on various topics set by the group’s admins and other users. Only individual users can be added to groups — pages cannot be part of Facebook groups. Admins have a wide range of permissions they can enable or disable to have the group function in a particular way.

Pages

Businesses use Facebook Pages to create a presence on the social network. Pages are not individual Facebook users — think of them as profiles for businesses. They can post updates, images, videos, and all the other types of content that profiles can. However, they have an advantage — Facebook Pages have the ability to connect to Facebook for Business and run ad campaigns.

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Events

With so much community happening on Facebook, individual users and businesses have the option to advertise events. The events can accept RSVPs, create a guest list, and share the date time, and location of the event. Events can be virtual through a video platform or they can be in person with a physical location.

Messenger

Instead of a direct messaging platform in the native Facebook app, Facebook Messenger exists as a separate application so users can chat one-on-one or in a private group setting. When using Facebook.com on a desktop computer, the messenger is accessible through the native Facebook website.

Story

Like Instagram stories, Facebook stories are another way individual users and business pages can connect with their friends and followers. Stories are short pieces of content that are visible for just 24 hours. After 24 hours, the stories disappear from the newsfeed.

Notification

Represented by the bell icon in the third circle below, a notification informs you when a friend engages with your posts, photos, videos, or timeline, you’ll receive a notification that explains what they engaged with and when. Friend requests will also appear here.

Now that you have an idea of what Facebook is and how it works, here’s a handy guide to using Facebook.

How does Facebook Work?

Facebook is powered by an algorithm that is able to learn each user's preferences and interests. Then, the algorithm displays content like images, status updates, and videos posted by friends and businesses that the user might be interested in. The goal for Facebook is to get users to engage with, consume, and share content.

Along with this, Facebook runs advertisements for businesses and these ads are sprinkled in between organic content shared by your friends on the news feed. The ads are tailored to your interests so you see what the algorithm thinks you might be interested in based on content you’ve interacted with in the past. This is called behavioral targeting.

How the Facebook Algorithm Works

In the past, Facebook used a chronological timeline. This means that the posts on your newsfeed were listed in the order in which they were most recently shared by your friends on the platform. If your mom posted three hours ago and your best friend posted five minutes ago, you’d see your best friend’s post first, then your mom’s. However, that all changed in September 2011 when Facebook officially announced that it was doing away with the chronological newsfeed and replacing it with a more personalized experience. Rather than seeing your friends’ posts in the order they were shared, you now see the content Facebook’s algorithm thinks you’ll enjoy the most. This newsfeed is still around today.

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How to Use Facebook

Set up your privacy settings. Personalize your profile. Like and follow public pages. Review your timeline. Add friends on Facebook. Post on Facebook. Add photos and videos. Connect with friends. Review your newsfeed. Discover additional Facebook features.

1. Sign up for a Facebook account.

To sign up for a Facebook account, follow these three easy steps.

Visit Facebook’s website.
On the homepage, enter your first name, last name, mobile number or email, new password, birthday, and gender.
Click Sign Up.

2. Set up your privacy settings.

After you’ve signed up for a Facebook account, you can adjust your privacy settings to control who can see your profile and information. Follow these four simple steps to change your privacy settings.

Click on the downward pointing arrow that’s located on the top right corner of any Facebook page.
Click Settings.
In the left sidebar, select Privacy.
Set who is allowed to see your past and future posts. You can also control how people can find and contact you.

Odds are, there’s probably someone on Facebook who has the same name as you. To differentiate yourself from these people and help your friends and family find you on Facebook, personalize your profile by adding a profile picture, cover photo, and some personal information.

3. Personalize your profile.

Picking a Profile Picture

Go to your profile and click on your profile picture.
To pick your profile picture, choose a photo that you’re already tagged in on Facebook, one that you’ve uploaded to Facebook, or a photo from your computer. You can also add a frame to your profile picture.

Choosing a Cover Photo

Click the camera button on your cover photo, which is on your profile.
To choose your cover photo, you can pick a photo from your Facebook profile, a selection of Facebook’s own cover artwork, create a collage, or upload a photo from your computer. You can also reposition or delete your current cover photo.

Updating Your Profile

Click the About section on your profile page.
In this section, you can fill in information about your work and education, the places you’ve lived, contact and basic info, family and relationships, details about you, and life events.

4. Like and follow public pages.

On Facebook, you can follow and get updates from your favorite brands, celebrities, sports teams, and publications. The best way to do this is by searching for them on Facebook and liking or following their public page, which will have a blue verified check mark next to their name. After you like or follow their page, you’ll start to see their updates in your news feed.

5.

Review your timeline.

Your timeline is a digital log of your Facebook activity in reverse-chronological order. Your status updates, uploaded photos and videos, and the photos you’re tagged in will appear on your timeline.

6. Add friends on Facebook.

There are three ways you can add friends on Facebook. You can either search for them, find them in the Find Friends tab, or import a list of contacts from your email, iCloud, or phone.

To find friends on Facebook, go to your profile, select the Friends tab, and tap the Find Friends button. You’ll see a list of friend requests from other people and a list of people you may know that you can add as a friend on Facebook.

If you upload a list of contacts onto Facebook, you can add your friends as you sort through each of your contacts.

7. Post on Facebook.

The main purpose of Facebook is to help friends and family connect with each other. And the best way to connect with your friends and family is by updating them about your life with status updates. To share a Facebook status, go to the text box at the top of your news feed page or on your profile page.

With status updates, you can share text with 15 different colored backgrounds, photos, videos, GIFs, stickers, and links.

You can also share other types of posts, like:

Feeling/Activity: Share how you’re currently feeling or what you’re currently doing.
Check In: When you visit a city, location, or place, check in and let your friends know where you’re at.
Tag Friends: If you’re hanging out with your friends, tag them in your status and share what you’re doing.
Tag Event: If you’re at an event, you can tag it in your status and share what event you’re attending.
Ask for Recommendations: If you just moved somewhere or you’re about to visit a location, you can ask your Facebook friends for recommendations on where to go.
Poll: Ask your Facebook friends what their opinion is on a certain topic.
Support Nonprofit: Choose a nonprofit organization of your choice and share it through your status. Your Facebook Friends can then select the donate button to support the chosen organization.
Answer a Question: Choose a predetermined question to answer or create your own question to answer and share it with your Facebook friends.
Lists: Choose a predetermined topic to make a list for or create your own topic and share it with your Facebook friends.
Facebook Stories: All the content that you can share through a status update is shareable through your Facebook story. You can also upload content to your stories by clicking the Add to Your Story button on the right sidebar. Additionally, you can watch all your friends’ Facebook Stories by clicking on their picture in the Stories section, which is also located on the right sidebar on your home page.

8. Add photos and videos.

On Facebook, you can add photos, videos, albums, and live video broadcasts to your profile for all your friends to see.

Uploading photos or videos

To upload photos or videos to your profile, follow these four simple steps:

Go to your Profile.
Select the Photos tab.
Select Add Photos/Video.

Upload pictures or videos from your computer.

Creating photo or video albums

To create a photo or video album, follow these four simple steps:

Go to your Profile.
Tap the Photos tab.
Tap Create Album.

Upload pictures or videos from your computer.

Facebook Live

To do a live broadcast on your Facebook account, follow these three simple steps.

In the box that says What’s on your mind?, select Live Video.
Once you select Live Video, you can write a description about your broadcast, tag people in it, add a feeling or activity, check in to an event, support a non-profit, or add a poll. You can also title your live broadcast or tag a video game if you’re live streaming someone or yourself playing a video game.
Select Go Live when you’ve finished describing your live broadcast.

9. Connect with friends.

On your news feed, you’ll see updates from your friends, family, or public pages you follow. To interact with them, you can like and react to their posts, share content on their timelines, and communicate with them through text or video chat.

Like, Comment, Or Share

If you like someone's post, give them a thumbs up, comment on their post, or share it.

Other Reactions

If your Facebook friend’s post evokes a stronger reaction in you than a like, you can also express that you love, laughed, are amazed, sad, or angry at their post by holding down the Like button.

Sharing Content on Your Friends’ Timelines

Anything you can post on your status, you can also post on your friend’s timeline.

Facebook Messenger

To chat with your friends or public pages on Facebook, use Facebook Messenger. You can access it by tapping the Messages button at the top right corner of any Facebook page or selecting the Messages button on the left sidebar of the home page.

Next, select New Message and type in your friend or brand’s name that you want to connect with. Facebook Messenger also lets you create group chats by clicking on New Group. After that, all you have to do is name your group and add the friends you want to include in the group.

When you message your friends or group on Facebook Messenger, you can upload pictures, videos, and files from your computer, as well as stickers, GIFs, emojis, and take pictures and videos from your computer’s or phone’s camera.

You can also view Messenger on its own page, where you can search for past conversations and manage your settings. To view Messenger on its own page tap the Messages button in the top right corner of any Facebook page and then tap the See All in Messenger button.

To instant message your friends' who are logged onto Facebook at the same time as you, tap the Chat button on the bottom of any Facebook page and strike up a conversation with your friends who are online.

Phone and Video Calling

When you have Messenger open on its own page, you can search for any of your friends or groups, click on their name, and tap the phone or video chat button to call them.

10. Review your newsfeed.

Your news feed is a curated feed of posts from your friends, family, and public pages you follow that Facebook’s algorithm thinks you’ll be interested in. You’ll also see ads from brands who think you’ll enjoy consuming their content or products.

To customize your news feed, tap the downward pointing arrow in the upper right corner of any Facebook page and tap News Feed Preference.

From there, you can prioritize whose posts you’ll see first, unfollow people and groups to hide their posts, reconnect with people and groups you unfollowed, discover public pages that match your interests, and hide apps from your news feed.

11. Discover additional Facebook features.

Facebook isn’t just a platform for viral content and connection. It’s also a hub for community communications, video streaming, marketplaces, and games.

Events

The Events page on Facebook will show you any upcoming events that are popular with your Facebook friends or have been set up by the groups you belong to. You can also find events based on their date, location, and category.

To find the Events page, select the Home button. Then, on the left sidebar, you’ll see the Explore section, where you can select Events

Groups

The Groups page on Facebook will show you which groups you manage and belong to. You can also discover groups to join based on Facebook’s suggestions and a ton of other categories.

To access the Groups page, tap the Home button and then on the left sidebar, you’ll see the Explore section, where you can click Groups.

Facebook Watch

On the Facebook Watch platform, you can watch videos from the shows you’re following and search for other shows and videos.

To access Facebook Watch, select the Home button. Then, on the left sidebar, you’ll see the Watch button right under the Marketplace button.

Marketplace

Not only does Facebook compete with Netflix in the streaming industry, but they also compete with eBay in the marketplace industry. With Facebook Marketplace, you can browse for all kinds of products, join groups to buy and sell products with people in your area or who share similar interests, shop for products sold from different shops, shop by category, and sell your own products.

To access Facebook Marketplace, select the Home button. Then on the left sidebar, you’ll see the Marketplace button right under the Watch button.

Games

Facebook Games is one of Facebook’s best features. They host a huge collection of massively popular games, and you can browse the most popular games on the platform by top charts and categories. You can even play most of the games with your friends, too.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in October 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Topics: Facebook Marketing

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Explained: What is Facebook? -

Explained: What is Facebook?

Facebook is the latest in a long line of what we now know as “social networking” websites. But what sets it apart from the competitors, is its popularity. At last check, Facebook boasts over 2.23 billion active users.

Established in 2004, from the college dorm room of Mark Zuckerberg, a Harvard student, the website is now worth billions of dollars and is one of the world’s most recognisable brands. It’s even had the Hollywood treatment, with The Social Network, a film exploring the site’s conception, released to wide acclaim in 2011. But, if you’re not quite on top of technology or are new to the internet, as a parent, or a teacher, you probably have a few questions.

What is Facebook?

Facebook is a website which allows users, who sign-up for free profiles, to connect with friends, work colleagues or people they don’t know, online. It allows users to share pictures, music, videos, and articles, as well as their own thoughts and opinions with however many people they like.

Users send “friend requests” to people who they may – or may not – know.

Facebook has over 1 billion users

Once accepted, the two profiles are connected with both users able to see whatever the other person posts. “Facebookers” can post almost anything to their “timeline”, a snapshot of what is happening in their social circle at any given time, and can also enter private chat with other friends who are online.

People with profiles list information about themselves. Whether it be what they work at, where they are studying, ages, or other personal details, many users post lots of information which is easily accessible to their friends and others. On top of this, users can “like” other pages which interest them. For example, a Liverpool FC supporter can follow the club by linking up with its Facebook page. There, the user can post comments and receive club updates, pictures etc.

Why is Facebook so Popular?

For young people, who have grown up with technology, Facebook was once the most popular website there is. However, many teens are migrating to other social networking sites such as Instagram (which is owned by Facebook) and Snapchat.

Those who still use it, use it for social networking. Young people are natural born multi-taskers, so using Facebook, as with any social networking website, is almost second nature to many teens. Social networking websites allow young people to experiment with who they are. They are popular because teens can find their own, uninhibited voice online which they can share with friends. Some teens feel they can express themselves easier online when compared to the real world because perhaps they feel the virtual world is more secure.

Teenagers love Facebook because they can personalise their profile. In much the same way that other generations may have plastered their bedroom walls with posters of their favourite bands or soccer teams, young people now take part in personalising their own space online with pictures, music, videos, and comments. The site has made communicating much easier too. Rather than picking up the telephone to ring your friend’s house, teens can instantly and directly communicate with their friends on Facebook. Even email, another relatively new technology, is of secondary importance to teens who use Facebook to do the majority of their communicating.

Facebook: With the Opportunities Comes Risk

However, despite its popularity, there are also many risks for Facebook’s younger users. UPDATE: Under the new E.U General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Ireland has now set the Digital Age of Consent to 16 years old. This means young people under the age of 16 in Ireland are not allowed to access this platform.

Here, Webwise outlines some of the main issues which parents have concerns about:

Privacy: Teens can sometimes forget that what is posted on Facebook is essentially a form of publishing and, unless profiles are set to private, anyone can view the information. Often, teens post too much personal information online like photos or phone numbers
Predators: While rare, there have been instances where predators and other unscrupulous individuals have targeted young people on Facebook. Due to its nature, the site can be easily accessed and is full of personal information
Cyberbullying: Facebook provides bullies with a new and fertile battlefield where they can inflict maximum damage on their target through repeated use of nasty messages and other means. There are numerous stories of hijacked profiles or serious instances of cyberbullying which have lead to suffering for victims
Meeting Contacts: Many parents fear that young people will meet face-to-face with people they first met online. With this there are obvious risks. Some young people will take online contacts at face value, but unfortunately, not everybody is genuine
Content: Sometimes, there can be content on Facebook which is unsuitable for young people and will upset them. Because of Facebook’s popularity, there are a lot of older users and often children can be exposed to things parents would prefer they were not.

Staying Safe on Facebook

Facebook gives people control over what they share, who they share it with, the content they see and experience, and who can contact them. For more information go to the Facebook Safety Centre:facebook.com/safety/tools

How the Facebook algorithm works and how to outwit it - Marketing on vc.

Brent Barnhart on the Sprout Social blog shared his observations about how the Facebook algorithm works and how to outwit it. We have translated and adapted this material for the SiteAnalyzer blog.

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You will probably agree that Facebook's algorithm often seems like a mystery, so it's natural that many brands are concerned about their presence on the platform.

And even if you haven't been affected in any way by recent algorithm changes, you've likely heard horror stories about brands seeing their organic reach plummet.

However, Facebook's algorithm changes don't necessarily mean that brands will have problems with it.

According to Sprout's 2019 Social Index, Facebook continues to be the number one platform for marketers and consumers.

Recent Facebook stats also note that the platform provides one of the best ROI for marketers in terms of social advertising. Given that your customers are already registered on Facebook, there is a reason for you to consider this social network as an advertising platform for distributing your services.

But how is it really? To stay afloat in the new Facebook algorithm, you need to make some adjustments to your content strategy. This way you can increase your organic reach.

How does the Facebook algorithm work now?

The essence of the Facebook algorithm is that it controls the formation of the news feed so that it most closely matches user requests.

Instead of displaying content in chronological order, the news feed and ads are published based on what Facebook thinks is relevant to you as a user.

At the same time, every time the Facebook methodology changes, marketers immediately raise a panic.

The most significant and drastic change came in early 2018, when Facebook announced its resistance to branded content, which made many companies sweat. In a moment of transparency from Mark Zuckerberg himself, Facebook appears to have challenged marketers and brands in general.

Facebook's 2018 algorithm update was designed to focus content around individuals' friends and family members rather than favor spam from companies. This left established companies and brands in a difficult position as they had to adapt their Facebook marketing strategies accordingly.

Changes and stages of development of the Facebook algorithm

Fast forward to today and we can see that the Facebook algorithm is still evolving. Below is a screenshot of some of the changes Facebook made in 2019.

Update: "Why am I seeing this entry?"

Since March 2019, Facebook has been providing context to explain why users see certain content or ads in their News Feed. This reminds brands once again of the need to hone in on their audiences and encourage engagement from followers.

The ongoing fight against disinformation

Facebook's fight against "fake news" and misleading content is widespread in the media. In April 2019, Facebook detailed its content verification efforts to combat misinformation.

This probably doesn't affect brands directly, but it certainly highlights the importance of trust and transparency on the platform. Since any content that was perceived as unnecessarily controversial or spam could quickly fall under penalties.

Surveys to help personalize your newsfeed

Personalization and relevance of content remains a top priority for the Facebook algorithm. In May 2019, Facebook announced the widespread use of polls to collect user feedback to make sure they see relevant content.

Regarding the potential impact on business pages, Facebook representatives stated the following:

"These changes were not made with the intent of showing more or less content on pages or with friends. Rather, the changes will be to links to pages that people find worth taking their time to, and will increasingly show posts from friends that people are interested in. "

From all of this, likes, comments, reactions, and any other form of interaction are all valuable currency for brands that want their content to be relevant to subscribers.

A note about Facebook reactions: This is an interaction pattern that also influences what the user sees in their feed. But for marketers, reaction is also another way to interact with customers. These badges provide a hub of useful information and allow marketers to see how customers "feel" about their posts. Facebook allows today's businesses to have a clearer picture of what their customers like. Negative reactions also help brands maintain their reputation and solve consumer problems. With reactions, brands can improve and tailor their posts to capture the desired emotion from consumers.

9 strategies for adapting (and outsmarting) the Facebook algorithm

All of these ongoing changes point to how the Facebook algorithm is forcing brands to adapt to its rules.

This may seem complicated, but it does not diminish the importance of social efforts to promote on the Facebook platform.

As part of the new algorithm's focus on more authentic interactions, brands are expected to promote quality content that can drive genuine interactions and shares.

How can this be achieved? Below are nine effective strategies on how to keep your brand alive in the new Facebook algorithm.

1. Optimize your posting time on Facebook

The Facebook algorithm prioritizes posts that get attention, so the time factor is very important.

To increase engagement, brands should stick to a content calendar that selects the best times to post on social media.

The most important thing is the publication time. This table sheds light on when the audience is usually most active. You need to remember that all methods are good when you are trying to increase your chances of getting your post seen by as many subscribers as possible.

And by the way, Sprout lets you schedule Facebook posts based on when they're most likely to get the most engagement. In this way, subscribers already know “when” your post will appear approximately and thus can contribute to the interaction.

2. Make Video the Core of Your Content Strategy

You've heard it hundreds of times and we'll say it again: marketers need to implement video content now or never.

Facebook executives noted that video content increased user engagement and interaction compared to any other type of content on the platform. Meanwhile, the recent video ranking update further highlights the importance of native video on Facebook.

Marketers of all shapes and sizes can post videos on Facebook that are perfect for starting a conversation and drawing fans' attention to a page. You don't have to create high-budget commercial content to do this.

For example, look at how Sharpie double-posts custom video content for Instagram on his Facebook page. These short but sweet snippets prove that the video has a huge benefit, in addition to meaningful production.

The platform also encourages creators to use Facebook Live to create compelling real-time content for their audience. Interestingly, Live Video sends notifications that ping your fans and followers. This is an added bonus that also makes your videos stand out.

Whether it's an impromptu vlog or a how-to guide like Fender's, live video is a powerful medium for brands today.

Take for example the same simple and hackneyed videos that can also be successful. Warby Parker often posts short videos that can be made in seconds and still get user engagement.

In this case, it's not about outsmarting the Facebook algorithm, but about giving the platform exactly what it wants. After all, Facebook rewards organic reach for posts that generate discussion and capture the attention of users.

With so many options available and Facebook's clear desire for even more visual content, making more videos is easy.

3. First we stimulate discussion - then we share links

As part of the latest update to the Facebook algorithm, the platform is now issuing penalties on marketers who try to cheat the system, so to speak.

For example, Facebook has clearly tightened the screws on publications containing "bait". While posts that come with a direct request for comments, tags or likes were once the norm, Facebook now acknowledges that these posts often serve as spam.

While there may still be a time and place for such publications, brands should be willing to engage in dialogue with consumers without being ashamed of it. Facebook wants us to create content that stimulates discussion, as long as we approach it with creative methods.

For example, you can poll your audience, allowing them to start the discussion themselves. This jokey post of questions from Loot Crate got a lot of feedback in the form of comments and reposts:

In fact, having questions in any post is a smart way to encourage commenting without having to beg for them. See how Milk Makeup uses a simple question in one of their posts as a call to action:

“All our plans are falling apart like a hurricane. How did you not have a day off? We'd love to hear it :)”

Brands should also try to publish content worthy of discussion when needed. Controversial content is just that, although brands must be careful not to risk offending or alienating audiences (in the case of overtly politically charged or “shocking” content).

A recent study by Sprout Social found that if your audience disagrees with your position on social and political issues, they are less likely to buy from you or recommend your brand to others.

Consider a brand like Delish, which regularly publishes buzz-inducing recipes and articles that generate a lot of discussion and reposting without causing irritation. These non-standard publications are ideal for getting a response from subscribers.

The more you can get people to talk, the more likely the Facebook algorithm will organically rank your content as "featured".

4. Encourage employees and brand advocates to promote your content

The key to understanding the Facebook algorithm was right under your nose the moment you started marketing on the platform. However, many brands simply don't notice it. And that key is your employees.

The concept of employee advocacy is growing in popularity. Since Facebook focuses on content from friends and family rather than business, this is the right time to start an employee advocacy program or upgrade it if you already have one.

Your Facebook page reach is already somewhat limited by the number of your fans/followers. And when you make these new changes to the algorithm, the number of people watching your content will drop even further.

By encouraging your employees to share your content on their Facebook pages, you instantly expand your reach. What’s more, since the posts will come from friends and family rather than your brand, people’s interest in these posts will increase 16 times.

Even if your brand has significantly more followers than your employees, if they show higher engagement, it will become more valuable in the eyes of Facebook.

The challenge is to get employees to share your content. Just sending an email asking you to share an article is not enough. It would take too much time and effort to go to Facebook, type a message and share it. In addition, some employees will simply forget to share and never return to this email.

This is where an employee advocacy platform like Bambu comes in handy.

Bambu makes it very easy to curate the content your employees can share on their personal Facebook page. You can provide a summary of what is being discussed and suggest a message option that they can include in their post.

In addition, each time employees log in, they see recommended content that they can share. This will allow them to publish the post at a convenient time for them.

5. Favor photos and tags over external links

The conventional wisdom is that Facebook prefers brands to store content on their platform rather than linking exclusively to external sites.

In fact, Facebook's practice of not paying too much attention to links and prioritizing its own content is no secret, especially in the case of videos.

Of course, you won't completely disappear from your subscribers' newsfeed by posting links only. But, you should update your news with different types of content. Bombing your followers with just external links is not only the worst method in terms of marketing, but it will not do you any good with the new Facebook algorithm.

For example, visual content keeps pace with Facebook best practices, gets 87% more engagement. That's why every post should be accompanied by some kind of visual element, whether it's an infographic, a GIF, or another enticing image.

You can also enhance your descriptions with hashtags or say thank you to another page, which can further expand your reach.

Again, your ultimate goal is to encourage engagement, as the links themselves won't scream "hey, pay attention to me."

6. Each post must be unique to Facebook

Because brands are expected to consistently post on Facebook day in and day out, companies often run out of their own content to move forward.

Ultimately, this leads to brands repeating themselves, posting the same posts over and over again, or not getting enough bang for their buck from a single post.

How can I fix this?

First, consider creating unique descriptions for your posts so they don't get repeated. Where you previously used a quote, replace it with a tag or ask a question.

Another strategy for re-adding old snippets to your feed, where repetition will be eliminated, is content repurposing.

There are many Facebook tools that can help you instantly turn your work into something completely new.

For example, you can turn a quote from an article into a custom image using Canva or Adobe Spark. You can also convert your post to video with Lumen5 or Animoto.

7. Start chatting in Facebook groups

Reporting a decline in Facebook page reach, with some sources citing organic reach as low as 2%, is arguably the biggest blow to marketers.

Does this mean that you should completely abandon the promotion of the brand page on Facebook?

Of course not, but it explains why many marketers are moving to Facebook groups, since fans and followers are essentially "added" to the group and participate in discussions within it. In a sense, the customers who join your group are the most likely to interact with your brand content.

For problem solvers and community educators, Facebook groups may be a better fit for your needs, rather than having to start a page from scratch.

8. Narrow your target audience

One of the beauties of Facebook is the ability to focus on your audience.

If you have a broad audience, consider narrowing your audience by interest or geographic location. Facebook gives you the ability to set these preferences and limits on a per-post basis. While this may initially narrow your reach, it can increase your engagement as a result. Think of it as fine-tuning relevancy for specific subscribers.

This option is perfect for national companies that hold events in several cities. Residents of St. Petersburg, for example, may not care that you are hosting an event in Moscow.

Narrowing the audience for viewing this publication to subscribers from St. Petersburg means that it will be available only to those people who can really come to this event. This increases the likelihood of more active interaction.

9. Invest in Paid Facebook Promotion

While brands should certainly focus on improving their organic reach, the power of Facebook ads should not be overlooked.

Why is this important?

The data shows that Facebook advertising generates an exceptionally positive ROI, with 93% of marketers already using it. With fine-grained targeting and combined with a host of creative options, Facebook ads offer marketers a freedom unlike any other advertising platform.

By applying some of the above tips at least twice, you can create a video ad that will grab the attention of your subscribers.

Of course, there are also collectible and carousel ads, which Facebook notes perform very well and have a low CPC.

By combining your organic efforts with Facebook advertising, you are in a winning position. Brands have already written about the need to think of Facebook as a pay-to-play platform.

Therefore, starting experimenting with advertising now is a smart idea in the long run.

And on this, perhaps, we will complete our list!

What do you think about the new Facebook algorithm?

Like it or not, Facebook's ever-changing algorithm is requiring brands to rethink their content strategies.

This is relevant now and will probably be relevant in a few months. Adapting to this kind of change is the nature of social marketing in general.

And marketers who adhere to Facebook best practices are more likely to be rewarded with audience reach.

Just be honest: what do you think about the latest changes in the Facebook algorithm? Is it confusing or, on the contrary, does it make sense? Share your opinion in the comments!

new feed ranking factors and tips for successful promotion

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How brands work with new Facebook algorithms

Facebook algorithms decide in what order the user will see certain posts when he opens the news feed. Prior to 2009, all content was displayed in chronological order. After that, the social network gave preference to ranking algorithms - it began to evaluate content and sort it according to the interests of each user. This made life much more difficult for brands and cut the reach of their posts. Consider the rules of the algorithms and how to adapt to them.

Development stages of Facebook algorithms

How the Facebook Algorithm Works Today

How Brands Adapt to Facebook Algorithms

How to Avoid Content Mistakes

Stages of Facebook Algorithm Development

To evaluate user preferences, Facebook uses thousands of data points – ranking signals. Over the years, ranking signals have been added and removed. Their importance varied depending on what Facebook thought users were interested in.

Learn more about the most significant changes:

Facebook introduced a sort order that places the posts with the most likes at the top of the feed.

Facebook started to downgrade pages that hosted a large amount of advertising content or organic ad-like posts. There's also a "View First" feature. Users were able to set the priority of publications, thereby directly influencing the algorithm.

The developers have added a ranking signal - "time spent". The value of a post began to be measured by the amount of time a user spent on it, even if they didn't like it or repost it.

Facebook has begun prioritizing emotional responses. For example, hearts or angry emoticons were valued more than ordinary likes. For videos, another ranking signal has also been added - the completion rate. Videos that were watched to the end were seen by more people.

Posts that elicit more positive reactions and interactions are now valuable. These changes were meant to improve the quality of the time people spend on Facebook. Priority was given to posts from friends, family, and groups. Brands needed to think even more about content so that it evoked as many reactions as possible. Only in this way they had a chance to appear in the feed.

High-quality original video that people watch for more than 1 minute took the lead. Videos that held attention for more than 3 minutes were especially appreciated. Facebook has also begun to share posts and content from "close friends" - who people interact with most frequently, whether by tagging each other in photos or sending messages on Messenger. We added a new "Why am I seeing this post" feature that clarified why that particular content was shown in the user's feed.

The algorithm began to evaluate the credibility and quality of news articles in order to promote truthful information and get rid of fake news. And people were seriously worried about the privacy of their data - the appearance of relevant advertising out of nowhere was frightening.

How the Facebook Algorithm Works Today

Newsfeed building and resource processing is machine learning is a technique that is applied to computers so that they acquire their own experience, like people. A resources are all the content that is on the platform.

First, Facebook does an inventory - evaluates each post available to the subscriber according to ranking signals. Uninteresting content, with which the user is unlikely to interact (like, comment, repost), lowers the feed down - his past experience is taken as the basis. The multitasking neural network then evaluates the selected posts and predicts which post the user is most likely to respond to. For example, Vasily Stepanovich, with a probability of 20%, will watch a video about fishing, but with a probability of 95% will like a friend's photo. Thus, Facebook finds a golden mean - it forms a news feed from numerous factors.

4 main categories of ranking signals involved in content processing

Publication author

famous personalities.

Favorite type of publication

What content the user most often reacts to: videos, images, etc.

Popularity

How subscribers respond to the publication: put a reaction, send to friends, comment or ignore.

Newness

Posting time matters - new publications are shown above old ones.

Feed Customization

Today, users can customize what content they want to see in their feeds. To do this, go to "Settings and privacy" and select "News feed settings". Indicate friends or groups whose posts are prioritized.

You can also switch the display of publications in the feed - by algorithms or chronology. To see the latest posts in the feed, select "Latest Stories" in the left panel. To return to interests, click "Back to Top Posts". The chronological feed setting is not saved and must be enabled every new session.

Priority of original sources

Facebook prioritizes truthful and original news. In order to check the authenticity of a post, Facebook's algorithms analyze the content on the relevant topic and determine which source the posts most often link to. This applies only to news channels and does not affect the publications of ordinary users.

How Brands Adapt to Facebook's Algorithms

Many SMMs consider Facebook's algorithm to be the worst enemy of promotion and tell stories about organic reach plummeting. But there are ways to adapt to it so as not to lose reach and customers.

Create video content

Post content that people want to watch to the end, because watch time and completion rate are important ranking signals. They indicate that the viewer likes your video. The longer you keep people interested, the higher the algorithm ranks the video post and the higher it will appear in the Facebook News Feed.

Optimize the posting time

Even though the posts are not shown in the feed in chronological order, the newness of the post is still an important ranking factor. That is why it is so important to know when the majority of your followers are online - this is one of the ways to get the maximum possible coverage. For convenience, LiveDune autoposting already displays the hours when your followers are online. This simplifies the task of analysis and saves time that can be allocated to the development of content.

Create groups

A Facebook Business Group is another channel to connect with your followers and customers. Facebook's algorithms prioritize posts from groups, and that's because people are known to join groups that they are interested in, where they are ready to actively interact with content.

Emotional marketing

Inspire your audience - give content that matches the interests and pains of subscribers, establish an emotional connection.

Be original, develop your point of view.
Be interesting, call subscribers to a conversation, discussion or dispute.
Be real, let your thoughts and emotions show through the content.
Support your ideas with evidence or statistics.

Focus not just on likes, but on emotional reactions in your posts: love, care, laughter, sadness, anger.

Set up response templates

If you don't respond to comments and messages from your followers, you may lose the loyalty of your audience and possibly future customers. But often users ask the same type of questions, for example, about the cost or delivery terms. To save time and streamline your work, set up response templates in LiveDune.

Use paid promotion

Combine organic promotion with targeted advertising - this way you can increase your audience reach even more. You can promote both individual posts and the entire page. Click the "Promote" button on the main page, then select the purpose of the publication. If your target audience is also represented on Instagram, you can promote the page both there and on Facebook.

How to avoid mistakes when working with content

In order to get maximum reach and engagement, it is important not only to publish content, it is important to know what your audience likes. To do this, you can distribute the content into categories and see the top and antitop publications by reactions, comments and reposts.

Extras:

Do not post clickbait (such as "Tag a Friend" or "Like"), banned or stolen content, false news or misinformation.
Don't give hints to users what kind of reaction you expect from them. If the author of a post openly encourages people to like or repost, Facebook may flag such content as potentially manipulative.
Do not participate in "Mutual Sharing" schemes. For participation in such activity, Facebook may restrict the distribution of content and deny access to monetization tools.

Facebook guidelines for exposing fraudulent content distribution schemes - read.

Conclusions

Facebook is constantly updating its algorithms and working to promote more interesting content. With this in mind, try to create posts that will be attractive to your subscribers and generate as much interaction as possible. Do not forget to analyze the statistics, so you will better understand your audience and what they like, which means you will find a recipe for high reach and engagement.