How Facebook Newsfeed changes will affect B2B content

Today’s news that Facebook is changing its Newsfeed algorithm will undoubtedly have a major impact on those publishers, organisations and companies relying on the platform for much of their traffic, engagement or ad dollars.

In his statement, Mark Zuckerberg says that public content has been crowding out personal content on Facebook, as the volume of articles, videos and messages being created has exploded.

Facebook is now telling us they will promote on our news feeds the content with which we interact the most (especially between ourselves), rather than those messages we passively ingest. How should B2B content publishers respond to the news?

Think quality not quantity

We have, for some time, advised our clients to reduce the volume of their Facebook posts or face being ‘squeezed’ by the Facebook algorithm. Consider posting less, but make what you post of high quality. Where possible, reduce your automated posts and ‘generic’ posting.

Put audiences first

Think carefully about how you can develop content – of whatever format – that engages your target audience. Go back to the first principles of communication, i.e. What is keeping your audience awake at night, what is challenging them or concerning them? Take those issues and build content around the areas that are most likely to provoke reaction or comment.

Have a point of view

If you want to encourage dialogue then you need a point of view – what is your stand on a particular issue faced by your industry? Will your CEO get off the fence and talk about a concern or challenge to a sector? Having a strong point of view could stimulate the type of back and forth discussion that Facebook wants to see happen.

Speak with a human voice

For organisations and brands it’s even more important now that you speak with a ‘human voice’ and don’t publish bland PR information that doesn’t get any sort of response from clients. Encourage your audiences and customers to become your evangelists by developing messages that reflect the spirit and ethos of the company.

Be prepared to engage

If you start to create content that is designed to elicit discussion and debate between your followers then you will need to be more alert to those discussions, when and where they are taking place. Be ready to respond.

Develop live content

One area that the Facebook team specifically mentions that provokes more debate is live video. Live video is ridiculously easy to create and can be a straightforward way in which to engage with very niche and targeted B2B audiences.

Experiment with new approaches

The key outcome is engagement and dialogue, but that can be difficult to provoke. Consider ways in which you can encourage audiences to chat and engage with each other. This could be through carefully crafted thought leadership with a real point of view, it could be through humour or comedy, if that’s appropriate, or through responding to a piece of industry news with a live discussion or debate.

Create a strategy for Facebook groups

Groups will become a key aspect of future Facebook engagement. Consider how you can engage with key groups for your industry, sector or company using groups as well as straightforward page activity. See this great article from the team at Buffer for more insight.

Review and monitor

As never before, you should constantly review and monitor what works and what doesn’t for your audiences on Facebook. When you see that you have had success with a post, dissect what worked and why and aim to leverage that tactic again.

Broaden your engagement strategy

Finally, many of us have become dependent on Facebook for much of our organic traffic over recent years; today’s news is another reason to review your content strategy to ensure you maximise all possible platforms and routes to your audiences.

If you’d like us to help you get the most out of your social media strategy, get in touch. 

Email: office@formativecontent.com or call our team on +44 (0) 20 7206 2687.

Enjoyed this post? Read 10 ways to fill your content pipeline with quality content.

Gay Flashman is the CEO of Formative Content, creating corporate digital content to build reputation, brand and community for clients including the World Economic Forum, Tata Consultancy Services, the Varkey Foundation, Global Education & Skills Forum, FundForum International, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Nestle.