Just like everything in life, Facebook is constantly changing. Keeping up with these changes can be frustrating because you want your posts to stand out.
Here are some changes happening on Facebook that you need to be aware of for your small business and social media success on this platform.
Content delivery
Facebook’s News Feed has changed the way content is delivered to you. Because Facebook felt companies were taking over the News Feed with advertising posts. They felt that this would impact traffic and user satisfaction. So, Facebook is going back to its roots as a social connector.
What this means is that posts from friends and family will be prioritized over posts business, media, and brands. Posts from your friends will appear first in your News Feed.
Facebook’s algorithm has changed to give priority to trustworthy news sources and local news sources that you follow and hopefully eliminate fake news.
Penalized clickbait and engagement bait post
Do you know what ‘click bait’ or ‘engagement bait’ posts are? Engagement bait posts are posts that ask you to tag someone, vote, comment, or react – otherwise engage with the post. Click bait posts are often fraudulent because they trick users into clicking on a link. Because these types of posts benefit the publisher, not the user, Facebook decided to make this type of post less visible on your News Feed.
How does this affect you as a small business owner who wants people to engage with their posts? Facebook is focusing on trust with these changes so your business posts must be unique and contain valuable content.
Free sound collection
On Facebook, video is king. Videos rank higher in News Feeds and remain longer in News Feeds than posts with images or just text.
Facebook is focusing on its video creators by offering free tools for them to use. They have introduced a free Sound Collection which is a base of free-to-use music and sound effects that can be used in Facebook videos. There are nearly 1,000 music tracks and 1,500 sound effects to choose from.
Think mobile for photos
Facebook used to only allow landscape photos. But since we’re all taking pictures with our mobile devices, Facebook changed their algorithm to allow for vertical images. These images used to appear cropped in our posts but no longer!
Facebook does have recommended image sizes for posting. Here’s what they are recommending for 2018:
Cover photo: 828 pixels in width by 310 pixels in height
Profile picture: 180 pixels by 180 pixels
Images in posts: 1200 pixels by 1200 pixels
Preview image: 1200 pixels by 627 pixels
As the world’s largest social media network, we’re sure 2018 will bring even more changes to Facebook.