Here's what Facebook's major algorithm changes mean for brands.

Major changes in Facebook’s algorithm : what it all means for brands.

On Thursday, January 11th, Facebook announced for the umpteenth time that the social network will gradually implement measures to prioritize the content of friends at the expense of content published by business pages.

“ We will prioritize posts that inspire back-and-forth discussion in the comments and posts that you might want to share and react to ... Because space in News Feed is limited, showing more posts from friends and family and updates that spark conversation means we’ll show less public content, including videos and other posts from publishers or businesses.” - Adam Mosseri, VP, Product Management - Facebook

This major announcement should have direct consequences for business who tend to communicate threw this platform.

WHAT IT ALL MEANS FOR THE USER

In this video, Facebook explains quite clearly how its algorithm makes it possible to decide which post appears first in a user’s news feed.

Here’s are the highlights:

• An interaction between two individuals will have more weight in the algorithm than an interaction between a page and an individual.
• The more people who interact together have affinities, the more their interaction will have weight in the algorithm. For example, a family member or close friend should be prioritized.
• More sustained interactions will have more value in the algorithm. For example, a personalized comment that takes longer to write or a series of comments in the form of discussion under a publication. This is what Facebook calls an "active engagement".

Therefore, the user is a winner, because his experience on the platform should still improve.

WHAT THIS ANNOUNCEMENT TRULY MEANS FOR FACEBOOK

" Protecting our community is more important than maximizing our profits." - Mark Zuckerberg

I laughed as I read in a blog a comment that when Facebook announces a new feature that is supposed to act at the expense of its profits, we should be worried.

In fact, in an ecosystem where advertising demand is only growing, this announcement can also be seen as a measure to reduce the advertising offer and ultimately increase its value.

Following this simple principle of supply and demand, the shareholders of social network #1 should not have too much to worry about...

WHAT THIS ANNOUNCEMENT MEANS FOR BRANDS

What can be read between the lines is that Facebook’s algorithm requires brands to provide engaging content with good quality and pay to to make sure that their content is visible and that the business page remain well listed.

Quality content + total reach + active engagement = Relevance of a page

With a given budget, a company must ensure that its digital content strategy evolves according to this new reality.

MY RECOMMENDATION FOR BRANDS

For a business that wants to stand out on Facebook, the right approach to take will be to reduce the frequency of publication, invest more in production of quality content and support the broadcast with a more substantial media budget and above all, better targeted.

It will also be important for businesses to use the tools that Facebook, such as Business Manager and Audience Insights, provide to fully understand the interests of their audience and thus produce relevant content.

More than ever, engagement is the barometer in social marketing, hence the importance of abandoning a disruptive advertising approach on the web in a favor of a content strategy that generates an active discussion with its audience.

Also note that this new measure is undoubtedly also an effort to fight the fakes news, which spread on the platform.