By Mark Lerner
There have been many complaints lately about the lack of exposure that Facebook Page Posts are getting on followers’ News Feeds. It’s true that since going public, Facebook has made a concerted effort to push its paid advertising; however, blaming Facebook for your posts not getting seen is a cop-out.
For a long time now, I have seen a slew of posts on my News Feed that look something like: “Like this post if you_____.” One thing is for sure, I have never “liked” any of these posts.
Similar to content marketing, posting on social media requires you to provide value with you share. In fact, both of these strategies are starting to become one and the same. The concept of “Social Content Marketing” is gaining more steam, and it seems that it will continue to grow in popularity. Facebook, and I have to agree with them on this one, has decided to crack down on poor posting habits by penalizing those who publish these kinds of posts.
One bad practice that Facebook is focusing its energy on most is posts that sound similar to the one I mentioned earlier, namely “Like-Baiting.” Have no fear, according to Facebook, the network is not only penalizing those who break the rules, but they are also (slightly) rewarding those who don’t. According to Facebook, “The vast majority of publishers on Facebook are not posting feed spam so they should not be negatively impacted by these changes, and, if anything, may see a very small increase in News Feed distribution.”
A message published in Facebook’s newsroom by Erich Owens, Software Engineer, and Chris Turitzin, Product Manager, highlighted the three main spam practices that Facebook will go after.
Frequently Circulated Content
Sharing content you come across on Facebook is great, but at times, it can be overkill. The powers that be have found that many people complain about Pages that are reposting content that has already been shared extensively elsewhere on Facebook, and may be irrelevant to the end user.
Spammy Links
Ever get fooled into clicking a link on Facebook that you thought was one thing, but ended up being some overtly promotional site? Me too. Facebook is now looking at this practice as a big no-no (thank God). It goes without saying that any links you share should be accurately described in your post.
Like Baiting
As mentioned earlier, this practice is all too common. In its attempt to make sure that we, the end users of Facebook, only see relevant and quality content on our News Feeds, the network is making sure that all posts provide value and are not just a means to boost likes.
Want people to like your post? Share something awesome! It may not be easy to come up with quality posts every day, but that is what we marketers get paid for. Just as blog posts should never be overtly promotional or poorly written, neither should social posts.
The key takeaway from Facebook’s new policies is that the rules of content marketing are crossing over into other areas. We are coming to an age where all content, including status updates, fall under the category of “marketing content” – whether it be 1000 words or 140 characters, the same rules apply.
How do you feel about the new rules? Leave your comments below!
Source: B2C Social
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