Understanding Facebook News Feed Changes

This week at WGBH we held a summit on how to understand Facebook News Feed changes. I recorded a version of that presentation using Facebook Live, and attached it in two parts below. (Apologies for losing my voice, I have a bit of a cold!)

Part 1:

Part 2:

 

A few favorite ideas from this deck:

  • Start Facebook Groups around a subject that you’re going to be able to sustain and contribute to over time. Look to see what conversations/communities are missing from Facebook – but don’t replicate a community that’s already been built. (Join it instead)
  • Double down on shareability through hands-on outreach initiatives, making your content easily shareable for colleagues, fans, followers, and influencers. Increase training internally to leverage your own teams to become evangelists for show content.
  • Make sure each post and page on your website has visible, clear share buttons. Use website features that encourage sharing within a post. For example, make pull quotes shareable.
  • Remind readers to share on socially, on your website and especially on air. Don’t just ask listeners and viewers to share; help them understand why it’s important.
  • Create a small circle that is willing to share on a regular basis (an “influencer circle”). These should be leaders in the community – heads of civic associations, business owners, etc. This could take the form of a semi-regular e-blast or a Facebook Group. Reward sharers with swag and access to events.
  • Incentivize great conversation. Highlight a “conversation of the week” or “best exchange” so your fans see that you’re listening and feel safe and supported in having conversations and discussions around your content.
  • Involve fans in reporting (ask for expertise, insight, sources, ideas).
  • When a story changes, find where it has been posted (both owned and earned) and post the update as a comment.
  • Encourage those who attend in-person events to share their takeaways and thoughts on the programming on social media.
  • Experiment with boosting your most-commented stories.
  • Run an ad campaign encouraging followers to sign up for your email newsletter
  • Don’t focus your time on growing your Facebook page. If you are investing too much time in multiple pages, consider consolidating (if they are the same audience). Map out your time investments strategically.
  • Learn best practices for civil discussions. Post moderation guidelines and enforce them.
  • Don’t stop producing video content – but make an effort to make videos less passive. “Passive content” is content that does not spark user meaningful interaction but is simply consumed for informational or entertainment purposes (e.g. viral videos and news articles).
  • Focus on the metrics that matter, and forget about follower counts! Metrics to include, always: engaged users, engagement rate, earned mentions, and conversions (to email, to membership, or even direct donations).
  • Emphasize social sharing among your audience; consider the user’s journey from consumption to interaction to sharing. Create meaningful interaction before expecting readers to share.
I would love for additional thoughts and ideas, in the comments below.

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Article by: Tory Starr

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