Facebook doesn’t suck, your content does

Thinking of abandoning Facebook in light of its changes to how brand posts are treated? You shouldn’t, but you must adjust your strategy.

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This is not a good time to lack in creativity when it comes to your brand’s Facebook content. Last month, the social network announced that brand content would take a major visibility hit if it is blatantly promotional.

If that seems like slightly ambiguous news, let’s clarify what exactly that means. Facebook is penalizing brand posts that:

This doesn’t mean brands cannot share ad-style content with their fans; it simply means that if they do, money is the only way to guarantee that content will be seen.

What does this mean? Well, it means a lot of brand managers are going to be angry that they spent years (and probably a ton of cash) beefing up a page’s fan count, only to be cut off from most of the audience they amassed.

But before digital marketers all over the world flip a lid, here are some ways to mitigate the fallout.

Expect organic distribution to decrease

Prepare yourself, your CMO, and/or the clients you represent for this change.

Consider making a quick one-sheet with links to a few articles and a couple of bullets addressing a new content strategy or proposing an increase in advertising budget on Facebook.

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