How to navigate the new Facebook algorithm on an artist’s budget

Photo by Tim Bennett on Unsplash

Facebook recently unveiled changes to their algorithm that drastically lowered organic reach for brands and pages. Unless you’re already very successful, you will need to learn the new algorithm without quadrupling your Facebook ad budget. This article will explain how to promote your work on a true artist’s budget.

Facebook made significant changes to its algorithm in January. Firstly, Zuckerberg announced that users will see more of their friends’ activity in their feed. This means that brands and Facebook pages have to duke it out for less room in users’ newsfeeds.

Zuckerberg commented that “video and other public content have exploded on Facebook in the past couple of years. Since there’s more public content than posts from your friends and family, the balance of what’s in News Feed has shifted away from the most important thing Facebook can do — help us connect with each other”.

Facebook’s new strategy is based on valuing meaningful interactions above everything else. Your Facebook strategy should hinge on increasing your rate of meaningful interactions — as per Zuckerberg’s conception of the word “meaningful” — which devalues likes and prioritizes shares and comments. To be honest, Facebook is right; a comment is more emotionally communicative than a simple “angry react”.

Whenever you hear about Facebook increasing something, the first question to ask yourself is “ what are they decreasing to balance everything out”. Facebook decided that their users were being bombarded by an oversaturated amount of branded content, which they didn’t considered to be a form of “meaningful interaction”.

Facebook is also prioritizing content from groups, which also aligns with their new strategic goals of valuing human interaction. Facebook wants users to develop meaningful connections and they believe that groups can facilitate this.

Although Facebook wants its users to forge stronger ties, their principal goal is to make their users spend more on Facebook. Prioritizing Facebook groups is just a tactic to prompt users to regularly check their cellphones.

Fabian Blank on Unsplash

Here’s how your Facebook marketing can survive the new algorithm without breaking the bank:

1. Live video is still prioritized much higher than regular video. During Facebook’s announcement of the algorithm changes, they wrote that “live videos often lead to discussion among viewers on Facebook — in fact, live videos on average get six times as many interactions as regular videos.” Take advantage of this and produce excellent live videos on a regular basis. Investing in lighting equipment, a tripod, and an external mic can take your live streams to the next level.
2. Since Zuckerberg has explained that comments are the gold standard of measuring interaction, your entire Facebook strategy should be to motivate your followers to leave comments on your posts. Moreover, shares still remain an important metric and you should also prompt your audience to share your content.
3. Although you need your followers to comment on your posts, you must also avoid engagement bait. A page that constantly posts “tag a friend who would like this meme!” will not be rewarded for a sudden influx of comments on their post. Facebook is able to identify engagement bait and they will punish it accordingly.
4. Facebook is back to heavily promoting its own groups, which is why you should create a Facebook group and build a community around your work! You can actually link the group to your Facebook page, which is a useful way to keep your followers engaged. You may be intimidated by the idea of creating a group just to talk about yourself, and I totally get that. Instead, you can create a community about the type of work that you do (ie. watercolour paintings) and place yourself as the group’s admin.
5. When you make a Facebook group, you must ensure that it provides valuable content. Here is an excellent LinkedIn video about how Quentin Allums builds a sense of community among his followers. Although he isn’t explictly talking about Facebook groups, his advice will help you moderate a vibrant group on Facebook. Here are two examples of Facebook groups with mods who start conversations and provide value to their group members.
6. You can leverage your own social circle by inviting your Facebook friends to like your page. You can also reach out to your friends and ask them to send out a round of invites.
7. Facebook is becoming increasingly pay for play, which means that you literally cannot afford to lazily target your Facebook ads. Dropping $100 on a video without precisely targeting your intended audience is like taking out a TV commercial on the wrong channel. Take the time to learn more about maximizing the efficiency of your Facebook ads and then execute what you learn. Facebook’s ad product is incredibly precise and that’s why you can always learn to be more efficient with Facebook ads!

These seven pieces of advice will help you fight the uphill battle against the new Facebook algorithm without drastically increasing your ad budget. Yes, Facebook advertising will continue to rise in cost, but my advice will help you keep your budget under control. With less money in ads, you will have more cash left over to buy paintbrushes or a guitar to fuel your next artistic pursuit!

Kathryn LeBlanc works in digital marketing and then writes about it. Her writing can be found on LinkedIn, Medium, and Vice. Tweet at @kat_leblanc to say hello ✌️