Image source: Scott Wickersty via Flickr
Facebook is by far the largest social media network and the largest traffic referrer. That means any changes to its news feed algorithm spark great interest among marketers.
At Facebook’s recent F8 Conference, Adam Mosseri, vice president of news feed, provided an inside view into how the algorithm works. Although providing no magic bullet to reach the top of feeds, his presentation is probably the best information marketers are likely to obtain.
Main factors used to prioritize posts include:
- who posted it and their relationship to the viewer,
- the type of content and the viewer’s previous responses to similar posts, and
- how much engagement it’s already received.
Other factors include average time spend on content, previous negative feedback on the author, when it’s posted, and how informative the post is. It scores each post based on individual preferences.
Increase Your Organic Reach
At another conference Mosseri offered these tips for brands attempting to increase their organic reach.
Write descriptive headlines. Users prefer headlines that accurately summarize the content – not click-bait.
Avoid overly promotional content. Too much promotional content over time can cause viewers to lose interest in your brand over time.
Experiment. What works for one publisher may not work for others. Trying different formats can reveal what your audience prefers, be it videos, long-form posts or images.
Use publisher tools. Tools like Facebook Insights show how your content performs and gauge the audience’s response. With Audience Optimization tools you can select the post’s topics to tell the algorithm who might be interested in the content.
Seek stronger connections. Users see more content from others they interact with more. “When you first sign up to Facebook, your News Feed are totally empty – it’s a blank slate,” Mosseri explains. “And then, slowly but surely over time, you friend the people you care about, you follow the publishers you’re interested in, and you build your own, personalized experience.”
Marketers can win spots in news feeds by eliciting responses from their target audience, concludes Andrew Hutchinson at Social Media Today.
“If you create content that they respond to and engage with, you’ll be on track to boosting your relevance to those users, which will then help improve your post performance in the News Feed.
Fighting Fake News
Facebook also announced it’s testing ways to counter fake news that appear in news feeds. A new version of related articles will show links to articles that appear before people read an article shared in through their news feed.
“These additional articles, which appear for topics many people are talking about on Facebook, will appear in a unit below the link. That should provide people easier access to additional perspectives and information, including articles by third-party fact-checkers,” explains Sara Su, product manager, news feed, in a company blog post.
Bottom Line: A top goal of social media marketers, appearing regularly in Facebook news feeds, has become more challenging. That’s why marketers would love to understand the inner workings of news feed algorithm. Insights from a top Facebook executive and digital marketing experts can help marketers understand the algorithm and increase their reach on the world’s most popular social media network.
William J. Comcowich founded and served as CEO of CyberAlert LLC, the predecessor of Glean.info. He is currently serving as Interim CEO and member of the Board of Directors. Glean.info provides customized media monitoring, media measurement and analytics solutions across all types of traditional and social media.
