We’ve always been opposed to the kind of promotional ‘salesy’ content that makes your newsfeed feel like a non-stop billboard. Social media is not a direct sales tool, and these kind of posts rarely give the ROI you want. Social media – and Facebook is no exception – is a long term investment in your communications strategy.It’s about building a genuine community, cementing your market position and having a clear brand voice. It’s not about endless promotions. So news this week that as of January 2015 Facebook won’t be giving so much organic reach to overly promotional posts makes a lot of sense.
One of the main reasons people come to Facebook is to see what’s happening in their News Feeds. As part of an ongoing survey, Facebook asked hundreds of thousands of people how they feel about the content in their News Feeds. People told them they wanted to see more stories from friends and Pages they care about, and less promotional content.
As a result, they’re bringing new volume and content controls for promotional posts, so people see more of what they want from Pages.
According to people they surveyed, there are some consistent traits that make organic posts feel too promotional:
- Posts that solely push people to buy a product or install an app
- Posts that push people to enter promotions and sweepstakes with no real context
- Posts that reuse the exact same content from ads
Examples of these types of Page posts:
It’s always worth referring back to their tips and best practice guide if you’re unsure.
By Kate Tyler
Kate is MD of Shake Social Ltd and a self confessed social media geek.
Get in touch if you’re not getting the results you want from your Facebook page.
Kate Tyler is the founder of Shake Social and our long time social media expert. A regular speaker at events, Kate offers consultancy and training on a range of digital marketing topics, in particular safeguarding and using social media in an educational setting.