Facebook now lets its
users pick and choose what they see first in their News Feed. Whether it be
their best friend, their mother, their favourite band fan page or updates from
a much-loved clothes store, users can now ensure they see those posts before
any other.
Large companies, such as Amazon, Pandora and Ebay are
putting a lot of money and effort into predicting user preferences, suggested
buys and interests. As one of the world’s largest Web services, Facebook is
incredibly influential, preferences and suggestions having the potential for a
massive ripple effect. Facebook is very aware of the internet’s most persistent
problem- figuring out what people actually want to read, see and respond to.
Although Facebook is always attempting to explain their News Feed algorithm,
their new update makes the whole process more transparent and simple.
The new tools on Facebook make it incredibly easy for users
to filter through the clutter to view exactly what they are particularly
interested in. Although the tools to ‘follow’, ‘unfollow’ as well as an option
to ‘see less’ and to prioritize have always been available, this new system
makes it much more accessible, powerful and transparent to adapt your New Feed.
The easiest way for users to prioritize friends, pages and groups is to open
their page, click on ‘Following’ and select ‘See First’ in the dropdown menu.
The alternative way is to select other users and pages is through the ‘News
Feed Preferences’ section under Settings.
Users can have up to 30 News Feed accounts to appear first,
so how can you make sure that Facebook users choose your business page to
prioritize? Hopefully your posts are already engaging, interesting and funny,
as this will obviously encourage followers to prioritize your page. Go by the
20%-80% rule: only 20% of your posts should be solely promotional, the rest
should be entertaining but related. Posting constant promotions will only make
your followers flee!
Once you have an engaged and loyal flock of followers, make
sure they are aware of this new update and how to use it. Create a post
identifying the new feature, such as:
It would be useful to create a screenshot to make the process more clear. The screenshot below shows the dropdown menu and the ‘See First’ option. Adding a photo like this indicates how quick the update is, as well as making your post eye-catching and more engaging. A quick video of the process would also encourage your fans to follow suit.
The impact of your followers prioritizing your page is huge. Facebook usually prioritizes pages merely through likes and interest history, but now you and the user have more power and control over preferences. Normally only 10-15% of your followers will actually view your posts on their News Feed, whereas with this update you are guaranteed their attention!
If you have any questions, feel free to drop me an email (info@digity.co.uk) or call: 01189 100 012.
Catherine Dove
Marketing Assistant
Digity, Online Marketing
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