As soon as Mark Zuckerberg announced new Facebook Newsfeed changes to focus more on “meaningful interactions” between its users, you could almost hear the cries of business owners everywhere. Why? Well, posts that business publish are being downgraded in favor of posts from friends and families.

In short, organic reach for posts made by publishers, store owners, etc. will go down, even if you already had amazing reach before.
But before you lose all hope and abandon Facebook for your business, there are four things you can do to respond to these changes.

Ask your audience to prioritize your posts.

Probably the easiest change you can make is to ask your audience to prioritize your posts by activating the See First feature:

Facebook Newsfeed Changes

Post less instead of more, and make it engaging.

In fact, stop all automated posting of content from your blog. Post original content that will encourage your followers to interact with the post. But, be careful not to make it engagement bait; that is, don’t ask people to like or comment on your post. That is probably even more detrimental to your reach than posting content that doesn’t result in any engagement. Here are some examples, courtesy of Facebook:

Credit: Facebook

Here’s an example from Mari Smith’s Facebook page for a post that asks a question without asking for likes or comments::

Facebook Newsfeed

And when you start to get engagement, keep the conversation going by getting involved. It gives your followers more of a sense of community, which is the ultimate aim of the Facebook Newsfeed changes.

Go Live more often.

Most people hate the idea of being on camera, but given that Facebook’s announcement says Live videos average 6 times the engagement, it’s going to be a necessity for reaching your audience. While it may seem scary at first, it will get easier as you do it more often. Here are a few suggestions to get your creative juices flowing:

  • Report on major industry updates. .
  • Show your followers how you make your products.
  • Hold an “Ask Me Anything” session.
  • Do a meet and greet with some of your staff members to give your followers a peek behind the scenes.

If you’re really nervous, try writing an outline of what you want to talk about rather than ad libbing the entire video.

Use Facebook Ads.

If you haven’t been using Facebook Ads up until now, it’s probably a good idea to start boosting your most important posts. While ad costs will probably go up, you can combat that by having really good copy, a high quality video, targeted audience, and the correct ad objectives. If you need help with this, the Smart to Finish team can set up and manage your Facebook Ad campaign.

We hope these tips have helped you feel a little better about the new Facebook Newsfeed changes. Please contact us with any questions you may have. We’re here to help!