Facebook Changes: Post Game Presser

In early January, Facebook introduced sweeping changes to its algorithm. We did our best to anticipate how those modifications would affect our clients by outlining ways to combat them. Now that we’re three months out from the original announcement, here’s a look at what we’re seeing now.

ADVERTISING REMAINS A BIG PLAYER IN GETTING FACEBOOK CONTENT OUT TO USERS.

In the past, using objectives like increasing web traffic or post engagements helped draw in large numbers for impressions. Now, those objectives are falling shorter than ever in getting messages out to a larger audience. By strategically shifting advertising spends to objectives aimed at increasing the visibility of content to our clients’ audiences, our clients have seen bumps in impressions (the number of times a piece of content is delivered on a screen) and reach (the number of unique people who were delivered that piece of content).

FACEBOOK ADVERTISING IS GETTING MORE EXPENSIVE.

Depending on the objective, we’re seeing increases in costs anywhere from 10 to 25 percent higher than the same timeframe last year. There are several factors that can contribute to an increase in the cost per result, and all signs point to a higher demand for advertising placement which affects the number of results we receive based on each client’s respective budget.

INSTAGRAM ADVERTISING IS PROVING TO BE A GREAT AVENUE FOR THE RIGHT BRANDS.

Instagram is owned by Facebook, so it would be easy to jump to the conclusion Instagram advertising is also being affected. However, for our clients who have an active Instagram presence, it remains an inexpensive avenue to share content. Brand awareness is especially strong on Instagram, and the cost per result has remained consistent even after the shift in Facebook’s algorithm.

ORGANIC METRICS ARE REACHING NEW HIGHS AND NEW LOWS.

For highly engaging posts, organic reach and impressions are doing exactly what Zuckerberg promised—they’re flying high. For the majority of content that doesn’t reach the “viral” threshold, we’re seeing large dips in the organic reach and impressions for those posts. Organic Instagram content has seen the same highs and lows Facebook has been experiencing.

FACEBOOK GROUPS AREN’T REALLY TAKING OFF JUST YET.

Brands aren’t adopting this method of reaching and engaging their customers, despite Facebook’s efforts to get publishers to use them. This doesn’t appear to be something brands will get behind as groups aren’t something they can advertise. To build that band of groupies, brands have to rely on something that is already failing them: organic content.

All in all, things aren’t nearly as bad as everyone assumed they would be, and that’s largely because advertising has remained untouched. The need for objective-based strategy is something that’s becoming clearer with Facebook’s changing environment. For accounts that were utilizing Facebook as a tool to publish 20-25 pieces of content per day with no ad spend, they’ve experienced a big hit with this change. For our clients, while advertising strategies have adjusted slightly, our posting strategies have remained relatively untouched as we have long seen the value in quality over quantity for our clients.