How the Facebook Ad Algorithm Works
Since February 2018, Facebook has decided to change its News Feed algorithm. Users will see more posts from friends and family, rather than public posts. CEO Mark Zuckerberg explained, “As we roll this out, you’ll see less public content like posts from businesses, brands, and media. Moreover, the public content you see more will account to the same standard — it should encourage meaningful interactions between people.” He attributed the reason for the change to the need for Facebook to make their services not only “fun to use, but also good for people’s well-being.” The implication of this is that businesses and other public pages would have to do more to be in their potential customers’ faces.
As expected, a lot of brands, businesses, and public outfits were apprehensive following the announcement. This announcement is due to the lack of adequate information on the details involved in the shift.
Before now, Facebook’s priority was how much time users spent on the platform. That has changed now. Facebook has switched focus to how much real interaction users have. Some interactions are being ranked higher over others. Actions, like commenting and sharing of posts, are considered more critical views and likes. Facebook wants their users to be fully engaged regardless of the amount of time they choose to spend on the platform.
Facebook is trying to return to being the go-to platform to keep family and friends connected.
Here are the factors that determine the success of your posts.
Commenting on Facebook
If you have a Facebook page and you put up posts that people don’t leave comments on, you are likely to experience reduced engagement with users. If you want to keep your current level of engagement, or possibly see an increase in distribution, you need to craft content that will make people talk, thereby putting up comments in reaction to the original post. You would want to craft your post in a way that would compel people to post comments. You can include questions, or talk about trending issues that are sure to draw reactions from users. In summary, the more engaging your posts are, the more people will see them, mainly because their family, friends, and acquaintances are posting comments on them.
Replies to comments are also as important; possibly as valuable as the comments themselves. It shows that whatever content or post is added up has sparked a conversation among users. Better still if people are tagging their friends, their friends check out your content and react to their comments: it’s a chain reaction. The whole point here is to drive conversations; make people talk.
Reactions on Facebook
Although not as useful as commenting, responses also affect how many users will see your posts. If people like your posts, the content gets a little boost in your feed. Better still if they use any of the other emoticons; love, haha, wow, or angry, the post will get a slightly better boost. Facebook prefers them.
Sharing on Facebook Messenger
If your post will go through the Facebook messenger, it is considered a meaningful interaction by the Facebook Ad algorithm. It is assumed that since someone likes your post enough to show it to his or her friend, the content must be engaging.
Sharing your Post
Another way your content gets in people’s faces is by sharing. If a person shares your post on their wall, they’re showing their friends and followers. That’s good, but it’s not even the real deal. The catch here is when people comment on and react to shared posts. This action gives some significant boost to your content.
Other Factors that Influence Your Post
Time spent viewing content. The longer the time people spend seeing your post, the higher it ranks regarding reach.
Time of Posting. If you post your content at a time that more people are online, it will be seen by more people and get more engagements.
Type of Post. Is the post in a text format, or in a picture or video format?
The Facebook page profile. If you have a complete page, that is, if you fill all possible forms and spaces, it gives your brand or business a more legitimate look, and more people would trust the authenticity of your contents and share them.
How informative the post is. More informative posts have been discovered to get more engagements than less informative ones. Informative posts are generally contents like news, gossip and the likes. You might want to add a bit of new information in your post even if you end up advertising your product or brand.
Lastly, the new Facebook ad algorithm is unlikely to affect paid ads. Some people believe Facebook is trying to drive users to use paid ads. Point is; if your posts are adversely affected by the new algorithm, you can try paying for Facebook ads.
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