The problem: Getting more visibility within Facebook
The solution: Take advantage of Story Bumping, Last Actor and Facebook Optimization
Earlier today, Facebook announced it has rolled out changes to how news feeds appear in a Facebook user’s News Feed.
If you’re serious about increasing engagement with Facebook, it’s something you need to learn now. With all of the push for individualized experiences online, Facebook is now providing new strategies to determine *what* stories appear in one’s newsfeed. The two new plot twists include:
- Story Bumping – This shows older stories that the user might have *missed* the last time they perused their newsfeed. In other words, the stories are new to the user, although possibly older than the current time they’re viewed.MarketingLand reported that Facebook saw:
- a five percent increase on interaction with stories from Friends
- an eight percent increase in interaction on stories from Pages
- an overall increase in stories read from 57 percent to 70 percent (read the entire article HERE)
- Last Actor – This involves real time ‘signaling’ – ie, Facebook tracks the last 50 interactions a user has done within the social network on a rolling basis, and uses that to rank what stories show in a feed.
So how can a business take advantage of this new Facebook news tweak?
In a nutshell, create *engagement* like so.
Tip 1.) Post yes/no/controversial questions on your Facebook business page/group
Interaction is the name of the game. You want your Facebook fans and group members/community to interact with one another, share your content and the like.
So! Pick a polarizing topic and ask your community to share their views. The more controversial, the more fervent the responses most likely will be. Each side will have their own battalion of believers who will defend their viewpoints most enthusiastically.
The result? Whenever someone engages, that engagement will show up in their friends’ feed. If their friends share the same interest, chances are…they’ll join in the fray as well.
More discussions ==> more interactions ==> increases the chance your ‘story’ will appear in news feeds even if it was missed the first time.
Tip 2.) Offer weekly contests
Your business page has a specific theme. Every week, you can create a contest where readers can submit their tips/photos/etc and then let the community ‘vote’ on which tip/picture is the ‘best’.
I do this for my passion I Love My Husky and Malamute Fan page. Every Thursday, readers are encouraged to submit their favorite Moose photos and every hour, one winner is announced.
The result? Increased engagement! People *love* sharing their favorite pictures (and we can expand this for local/businesses as well – share and vote on your favorite tips!).
More discussions ==> more interactions ==> increases the chance your ‘story’ will appear in news feeds even if it was missed the first time. See how this works?
And finally:
Tip 3.) Train your audience to expect daily topics
This is very powerful.
Every day, pick a topic/idea, use your own #hashtag and ask your community a specific question.
In my group, Perking Up Profits, it’s called #MorningWakeupChat.
In Dennis Becker’s The IM Inside Track, it’s called #DailyTopic.
In both cases, it encourages the user the community to *expect* a daily topic and share their ideas about it.
More discussions ==> more interactions ==> increases the chance your ‘story’ will appear in news feeds even if it was missed the first time. It works this way too.
In closing, certainly, search engine optimization is important.
In the age of social media, however, Facebook Optimization (FO) is definitely *not* to be ignored.
Other resources about the new tweaks to Facebook News feeds can be found at:
- Forbes: Facebook Changes News Feed To Bump Up More Relevant Content
- The Wall Street Journal: Facebook Opens Up About News Feed Formula
- TechCrunch: Facebook To Publicize News Feed Algorithm Changes, Starting With New “Story Bumping”
- The Verge: Facebook tweaks News Feed to surface stories you might have missed
These tweaks for Facebook Optimization are generating a lot of comment and analysis. Make certain you factor in their importance to your social media campaign today.
Grow strong,
Barbara Ling
Get Started Here
You’ll love what you learn… Promise!