What have you heard about the algorithm changes?

Have you heard about the new changes to Facebook’s algorithm?

Facebook’s announcement about the change is freaking people out. Have you noticed?

Today I want to talk about how these will (and will not) affect your business this year.

So here’s what I think (and here’s what I’m noticing with clients):

First, ads were not mentioned in the changes at all, so I don’t think these new changes will affect Facebooks ads.

Plus, Facebook makes a lot of money with ads. There’s no way they’re going to cut that out.

However, I do think these changes will require business owners to pay for ads if they want Facebook users to see their content.

So what should you do?

If you’re counting on organic reach from social media (attracting clients simply by posting to your account a few times per day), give up on that.

And here’s the thing: We’ve all known about this for awhile!

Organic advertising has not been working for more than a year. You have to promote your content for people to actually see it.

This means, however, that ads might be more expensive and more competitive, because more businesses will now have to promote with ads. And this simply confirms what we already knew: organic reach is at an all-time low, and Facebook ads are a necessary part of building your business.

Here’s what else might happen:

Your newsfeed might have more friends and family posts, specifically filtered to ones who you interact with most.

You will see fewer group posts.

You will continue to see ads (maybe even more).

And it sounds like Facebook will favor posts that receive more comments, even on your personal profile.

(I think this means that if you’re posting things that receive a lot of engagement on your personal page, your posts inside groups might also be pushed to the top.)

So what should you do?

Stop spending time posting three times per day. Organic reach is not happening.
If you’re not spending money on ads already, I encourage you to *at least* consider it.

If you’re not yet testing Instagram ads, definitely try that, too. My clients are seeing huge success already with Instagram stories ads, and Facebook is pushing you to connect on Instagram.

(Remember, though, that you need to create ads that are specific to the Instagram platform, and Instagram wants straight-to-the-point, shorter copy and videos. Focus on the imagery.)

Here’s the deal.

If you’re already worried about the algorithm changes, stop. Don’t worry until your cost per lead starts to go up (and I haven’t seen this happen yet).

And test out different options for ads: Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

My Team is branching out from Facebook ads to Youtube and Google ads, because I think these are going to blow up this year.

I hope this helps clarify the craziness of algorithm news. And if you have questions, REPLY to this email and we’ll get you some answers.

Emily

Also, please remember that nobody actually knows what’s going on in Facebook’s headquarters, so most of what you hear is speculation and observation. This is my speculation only, based on what I’ve seen so far.