Face­book is rolling out changes to its news feed algo­rithm in a bid to reduce “over­ly pro­mo­tion­al” posts. The changes fol­lowed a user sur­vey that revealed peo­ple felt there was too much pro­mo­tion­al con­tent in their news feeds from pages they had liked. With the changes due to roll out this month, how can brands ensure they main­tain an endur­ing reach?

When Face­book announced changes to its news feed in Novem­ber, it was swift­ly fol­lowed by a wave of com­men­tary pub­li­ciz­ing the end of organ­ic reach. It’s lit­tle won­der that more than a few experts pre­dict­ed a ris­ing bud­gets for paid media in our 2015 social media pre­dic­tions post.

The social net­work insists that the changes are an effort to improve the over­all expe­ri­ence for users. What are the three kinds of posts Face­book says are too pro­mo­tion­al?

1. Posts that sole­ly push peo­ple to buy a prod­uct or install an app.
2. Posts that push peo­ple to enter pro­mo­tions and sweep­stakes with no real con­text.
3. Posts that reuse the exact same con­tent from ads.

Face­book’s new algo­rithm will fil­ter out such con­tent deemed to be of less­er val­ue.

Here’s a typ­i­cal exam­ple of the kind of pro­mo­tion­al post users won’t be see­ing in their feeds any longer:

And the kind that does­n’t direct­ly encour­age a pur­chase, and instead offers a invi­ta­tion to engage:

(Source: Fal­conSo­cial)

The Implications For Brands?

Brands that are already win­ning a great deal of audi­ence engage­ment, will be affect­ed the least by the changes. Cre­ative brands that con­duct stand­out cam­paigns and focus on engage­ment are exact­ly the kind of the brand that the algo­rithm will like­ly ben­e­fit.

So what fac­tors sep­a­rate the brands doing well, and those the algo­rithm changes are giv­ing a kick up the prover­bial?

6 Ways Brands Can Maximize Facebook Organic Reach

1. Get Creative

Face­book is a social plat­form. That means reach is tied to engage­ment lev­els. Posts that illic­it the most shares, likes, or com­ments are invari­ably the ones that see the biggest gains.

So get cre­ative and give your users a rea­son to engage. Ask ques­tions, pro­vide tips, recipes, or host polls. In short, add val­ue to your posts and give users a rea­son to like and share.

(This post from Nation­al Geo­graph­ic gives a strong incen­tive for users to com­ment and share.)

2. Observe & Listen To Your Consumers

Face­book is an out­stand­ing resource for unbi­ased data about what your con­sumers and think­ing and feel­ing. Social lis­ten­ing will enable you to gauge the mood and sen­ti­ment of your users, as well as inform you as to the top­ics and con­tent they are most inter­est­ed in. Don’t under­es­ti­mate its use­ful­ness!

3. Find Your Social Media Voice

The voice of your brand’s PR and mar­ket­ing isn’t the same as the one that should be heard on social media. Social media is where you can talk and engage with your con­sumers. Speak in their lan­guage, but main­tain the iden­ti­ty of the brand, and find your brand’s own unique voice.

4. Use Posts To Drive Users To Other Web Channels

Suc­cess­ful posts add val­ue with­out intrud­ing on the expe­ri­ence of those who aren’t inter­est­ed. But what about those who want to find out more?

In addi­tion to send­ing peo­ple to your own web­site, you can use posts to dri­ve users to your pres­ence on oth­er plat­forms, such as YouTube. That way, you’re tap­ping into an audi­ence you would­n’t oth­er­wise have access to, and com­ple­ment­ing the per­for­mance of your oth­er chan­nels.

(Social Fresh’s post links to a land­ing page with addi­tion­al infor­ma­tion.)

5. Have A Paid Budget

Paid adver­tis­ing on Face­book still has a place with­in users’ news feeds. Con­tests, events, or ads that lead to a direct path of sale may now require a paid bud­get to be vis­i­ble, but in cer­tain cas­es it remains the best way to com­ple­ment an organ­ic cam­paign.

6. Be Social

This might seem obvi­ous, but brands com­mon­ly make the mis­take of mere­ly churn­ing out con­tent on their own chan­nels. Be a thought-leader, lis­ten, and engage with users on oth­er chan­nels, not just on your own posts. Poten­tial­ly, they’re your cus­tomers too!

Here’s the SlideShare ver­sion of the arti­cle (it’s down­load­able!):