“Facebook took something that even a novice could understand and have turned it into something that even to someone who has programming experience, is a confusing mess all for the sake of more ad space. Way to alienate your users Facebook! Social media is impatient and fickle, best get things simplified or people are going to split! P.S. It shouldn’t be all about the money. You either want businesses to use FB or you don’t.” – Heaven Graphics
Facebook’s recent pages upgrade has left a lot of small business owners reeling. For those businesses who rely solely on Facebook instead of their own brand, the fallout from FB’s upgrade has just begun and it’s looking uglier with each passing day.
The Problem: Customers and friends no longer see business page comments, links, photos, and status updates. Why? Because along with the new Facebook came an automatic new default setting placed on everyone’s newsfeed. The new newsfeed default setting shows you comments, links, and status posts ONLY from those people you interact with most. This means, if you’re a business, people who normally don’t interact with you will not see you anymore. Feeling invisible on FB lately? It gets worse. Facebook has decided relevancy is what matters. Therefore, even if you change your newsfeed settings, your newsfeed will never ever be the same as it has now become part of The Borg – I mean Facebook’s new relevancy algorithm.
The Partial Solution: You can change your newsfeed settings and see more filtered, relevant posts. This will make more people visible to you but will not make you more visible to them. Will all 600 million people on FB make the effort to do this? I think not. But, here’s how you can do it:
Step One: Go to your home page and click the little blue triangle next to “Most Recent.”
Step Two: Choose “Edit Options.”
Step Three: Click the little blue triangle next to Show posts from … and choose “All of your friends and pages.” Click Save.
To all businesses suffering under Facebook’s upgrade it’s imperative you understand the following distinction: Facebook is not your brand. Facebook is Facebook’s brand. Your blog and your website are your brand. Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter are places where you can share your brand. If you put all of your marketing eggs in Facebook’s basket then you’re in trouble.
It’s easy to wonder whether Facebook knew all along small businesses may not like their upgrade. If they did, then they’re willing to take the hit and nothing will change. If they didn’t, then perhaps these pages will matter: Bring Back Chronological Posts, You Are Invisible, and New Facebook Settings Affecting You. How do you predict Facebook’s new default newsfeed settings and relevancy algorithm will impact brands? How do you predict they will impact Facebook?
To contact oz 2 designs LLC to handle your digital marketing and design email Catherine Lockey at cl@oz2designs.com.
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Love your use of graphics Catherine! As a small business owner, I totally feel at the mercy of Facebook. They constantly make changes that impact us. If it weren’t for other bloggers noticing these (sometimes subtle/sneaky) changes, most of us would not even know that something was changed. I try to keep up with Facebook but it is definitely only 1 tool of many to me.
Sherryl Perry recently posted..Want Ideas to Promote a Niche Ecommerce Site With A Blog
Hi Catherine! I agree with Sherryl, your graphics are hot. Mojo Jojo is adorable. This discussion has been going all week and my theory is that Facebook continues to make massive changes at least once a month to get us all revved up thus driving us to go to the site and update our settings. And they never provide real clear instructions, leaving us to guide each other through the process. Thanks for showing how it’s done!
Ileane recently posted..How Facebook Stays On Top
‘Facebook is not your brand’ LOVE that. This is exactly the reason why I didn’t build a huge FB following for my blogs. Those boys change the rules at will and somehow it’s typically not good news for users.
That said, it’s a grand place to meet new prospects and engage them in robust conversation that moves them to your site. That’s my plan for launching my site, SpeakUpPowerfully.com in April.
Thanks Catherine for sharing this. I feel much less guilty for being a FB contrarian now!
And that Sherryl, is how one keeps Facebook in its proper place.
Catherine Lockey recently posted..Is Facebook Losing its Marketing Mojo
Hey Catherine, it’s awesome! I agree with you, facebook page is getting invisible because of a series of changes, ads area are getting bigger, exploring and browsing facebook is getting harder, page layout is getting more complicated. Many people wonder why they need to maintain their own blogs and website since they can use facebook to do the same thing, this post gives the answer
I agree with Sherryl. It’s one tool of many. Twitter is my introduction, usually, to new people and facebook is where we really connect. We see more of an insight into each others lives. The changes on FB are supposed to improve the site, but I’m sure you agree that they don’t always serve in a practical way. And most times, they fix things that weren’t broken.
Dennis Salvatier recently posted..Note to Creatives- Stop Being An Ahole
Hi Catherine. I am glad to see I am not the only one who can’t keep up with all the changes on FB. I had just set up my fan pages to look pretty cool and WHAM! More changes! I think they are in cahoots with those who earn a living helping others set-up their FB fan pages. Good point that FB is NOT our brand – it is Facebook’s brand. Thanks for this post!
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Hi Catherine,
You make good points and congratulations on getting this post in Social Media Today. I wonder how much time is lost or not utilised to get better results on their own websites versus trying to keep up with Facebook changes.
@Susan – great point. Investing in one’s own brand may take a bit longer but the digital benefits last forever.
@Julie It IS disheartening to design something great and watch it disappear! Glad u like the post.
@Dennis – You’re doing it right – your blog is your brand and your message extends from there. FB, Twitter, Linkedin etc.. are all nice but your brand doesn’t depend on them.
@Cherry I’m surprised FB is taking this route but many are not. Glad you liked my post.
Thanks for the visit Dina. Yes, FB has it’s place – it’s just not the end all some touted. Good luck with your upcoming site.
@Ileane – Thanks for the compliment on the graphics – created by oz 2 designs LLC art director Rick Brady – they’re hilarious! See if u can spot the subtleties he added to the top graphic – clue: check the “pictures” area for a good laugh.
Great post and comments Catherine. Facebook’s constant changes is driving us all mad. Agree with you that they probably don’t care.
Facebook is a strange company in the sense that it has a massive amount of members but still has to find ways of increasing revenues. Maybe that’s what all the changes are about?
Thanks for the suggestions about how to find a partial solution.
Glad u like it Catarina. Maybe it is all about increasing FB revenues. One comment I received on the Social Media Today version suggested FB doesn’t like the idea of small businesses distracting from FB ads. Wouldn’t it be nice to know FB’s motivation. Did they expect the small business and personal outcry? Even weirder is their lack of response to it. Very ANTIsocial.
Believe it or not, Facebook was not set up to sell your products for free. Quit crying, and try something else.
hahaha! Thanks for the pearl of wisdom.
Aw! For a minute I thought I would have a heart attack. I have just started making a facebook page and wouldn’t have noticed the difference. Thanks for the heads up. At least I know where to stand now.
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Thanks so much for the information, Catherine! I knew that Facebook changed again but I wasn’t sure of the full implications until now. I see what FB is trying to do, but I have to wonder if users will actually want to take advantage of it. If they’re so concerned with “improving the Facebook experience,” then they should actually ask users what they’d like to see and have an official vote. Now THAT would be genuine power to the people!
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It’s interesting to me FB doesn’t poll their users Jill.
This is all true about relying solely on Facebook for one’s own brand. However, some of this conversation seems specialized and short-sighted, especially because it overlooks the community around a brand or issue that has been built on Facebook – a tribe, if you will. This is especially true of my non-profit organization for whom the social aspect is critical. A segment of our supporters expect us to have a strong and interactive Facebook presence – and since we are actively recruiting Gen-Y, this is a huge issue for us. Facebook is probably the social media channel they check out first, and in our case, it is the most important. We go where they are, and FB is where they are. Small businesses, and especially non-profits, have ongoing conversation and critical interaction on their pages that is completely dependent upon chronology. Some take questions and complaints or have other timely interactions on their pages, some of which are extremely time critical. We post urgent needs for disaster response, for instance. At least one admin has already posted stats that show a sharp decline in critical numbers. That certainly seems counter to Facebook’s business plan – or what one presumes to be their plan.
You’re right Marty – this conversation is shortsighted and you have broadened my view. Obviously, harm is being done.
You may have to move your tribe.
I am so glad that more an more small businesses are seeing this. It is fine to go after big business but anyone with any business sense know it is the small business that makes the world go round. I am a computer programmer every time i go on face book i look and say to myself what a mess. Also i have been tempted to write my own version of face book and put it out there for it is supposed to be. For every small business they don’t want i will take and give them the ad space the deserve. Well you could go on an on about what is wrong with face book but all in all those with big business who put greed first tend to lose more business then gain. i have seen this many time with buy outs and things of this nature.
I think some still are not getting it. Don’t businesses want comments and feedback and conversations on their f-book pages? It’s almost impossible with no order to them. A recent comment or question could be pages back with the a 2 day comment up top. I thought a social network was for networking — conversations, questions, comments. I thought companies loved compliments. You won’t get any unless the chronological order is fixed! No interaction can happen on a website.
Hi – I concur with Marty. We are a fitness club with a very strong community spirit (businesses aren’t just about making money…) and we use facebook not to push product sales, but to inform one another of relevant things happening in our community. What’s relevant is often timely, but thanks to FB’s (in my view useless and ridiculous) new algorithm – important information is being tossed aside. I can’t fathom why they decided to make this change. Major fail as my kids would say. Someone suggested polling the users – now there’s an idea! Grrr.
These instructions are going to help. I know very little about Facebook, but my books do have pages up there. I need to check on them a bit more often! Thanks for this.
Excellent tutorial, Catherine. I have a Facebook presence but a passive one, although I FB does send traffic to my blog. I post my blog updates and will also post news and tips that I come across. However, you have to make a decision about where you’re going to spend your time and FB is not my top priority. First is my blog, then LinkedIn, then Twitter and way down is FB. It just isn’t possible to keep up with every social media network. It comes down to what works for you. If FB is important to some people then I guess they will just have to suck it up every time FB makes an aggravating change!
FaceBook is a highly effective marketing tool and its popularity and efficiency are going to increase with time. Popular social marketing networks can become a good alternative to search engines with time.
Terje Sannarnes recently posted..Entrepreneur Training on Website Promotion in Google Maps
Well Terje, only time will tell if FB or any other social media will become an alternative to search. Remember, FB is just one way to share news from your website and blog.
Great post, Catherine. I know small businesses are starting to become aware of this new setting, and it’s frustrating.
But you hit it right on the head when you said: “To all businesses suffering under Facebook’s upgrade it’s imperative you understand the following distinction: Facebook is not your brand. Facebook is Facebook’s brand.”
The solution? Be more relevant to your customers. The only time you are (pretty much) guaranteed a new follower’s attention is when he/she initially “likes” you. Your front page needs to constantly be compelling for the new customers, inviting feedback and offering interactive components.
Discount codes or current news in the industry also help. Once followers can see you as a source of information/benefits, your site will be more frequently visited and Facebook will determine you are relevant to that user’s interests.
At least, that’s my master plan.
Jana Quinn recently posted..Building a Community- Why Starbucks Gets Customer Service Right
Excellent points Jana – I appreciate your expertise.
Catherine, aloha. Even though I am reading this post months after you wrote it, everything you and your commenters said remains the same.
It is simply overwhelming to think of keeping up with all the changes. As they come to my attention via post or Social Media Examiner, one of my favorite sources of info, I note them, however, unless I need to make a change at that time, I don’t even attempt to learn how to “fix” for the latest change. When and if I do need to make a change, I look for what’s current at that time.
The only good thing about fb’s constant changes, Catherine, is that I believe more and more people are realizing (1) fb is not their brand and (2) they better back up content/contact info.
Love, love, love Mojo. Best wishes for a terrific week. Aloha. Janet
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