After coming under intense criticism for the way Facebook presents news stories and updates to its users, Facebook has announced that it will be revamping their news feed algorithm, and the update will change the way brands advertise on Facebook. Anyone that doesn’t update their strategy could be left in the dust.

This statement by Mark Zuckerberg details how Facebook will now prioritize posts by family, friends, and groups over unpaid promotions by brands and businesses:

“We built Facebook to help people stay connected and bring us closer together with the people that matter to us. That’s why we’ve always put friends and family at the core of the experience. Based on this, we’re making a major change to how we build Facebook… from focusing on helping you find relevant content to helping you have more meaningful social interactions.

As we roll this out, you’ll see less public content like posts from businesses, brands, and media. And the public content you see more will be held to the same standard – it should encourage meaningful interactions between people.… [B]y making these changes, I expect the time people spend on Facebook and some measures of engagement will go down. But I also expect the time you do spend on Facebook will be more valuable.”

Does this change mean that people will be less likely to see your content and engage with your business? Quite simply…yes.

Even before this change, organic content that you create and post to your Facebook page would only be seen by a fraction of the people that “like” or follow your page. After this change is implemented, nearly all organic content for your business will only be seen by people that happen upon your page from another source or by people that choose to sort their feed by “See First”.

The news for businesses isn’t all bad, however. The algorithm change will not affect paid ads or boosted posts, which means that there is a significant opportunity for those businesses that realize this. Many of your competitors will not run paid content on Facebook, or may be frustrated with the change and stop promoting themselves on the platform, leaving you with a much better opportunity of being seen. Facebook is known for their highly targeted advertising audiences, and if you are working with a digital marketing agency that understands this and can properly position you and your advertisements, you could see a dramatic increase in engagement and conversions.

If you are looking for help with your Facebook advertising, or any other digital marketing efforts, let us know and we would be happy to help!