Is your Facebook content interesting?
Facebook, the still reigning King of social media, recently made it a bit easier for interesting Facebook Page content to make it into the news feed of followers without paying. (Although chances are, you will still need to pay to gain any real traction with your Facebook business Page.)
Constantly Evolving!
Facebook is a constantly evolving social network. And, to stay in the game long term – and at the top of the heap – they will continue to innovate and release updates designed to please those who use the network.
Although many, likely older users, find the constant updates frustrating, there is no other option for a social network that wants to continue to lead the pack!
Facebook’s recently announced (July 9, 2015) ‘Updated Controls for News Feed‘ is an example of this.
You Get To Choose Your Top 30
The update allows personal (profile) users to choose up to 30 Facebook friends and/or Pages that they would like to appear first in their news feed. The ‘News Feed Preferences” feature gives users more control over what they want to see in their newsfeed, at least what they’d like to see first.
This appears to be a hugely important opportunity for those Facebook Pages that have worked hard to deliver content that their followers, those who have ‘liked’ their Page, consider interesting. Because now, rather than Facebook deciding what Pages and people I want to appear at the top of my news feed, the control has been placed in my hands … at least for the top 30.
In reality, a limit of 30 people to appear first in one’s news feed may mean even interesting Facebook Pages won’t be ‘chosen’ to appear at the top of the news feed. Some friends and family may make the cut, along with a few exceptionally interesting Facebook business Pages, maybe.
Your Page May Lose A Few Fans Along The Way
As I went through this exercise myself, I found I began to unlike some pages that I really never pay attention to, I wasn’t just deciding they didn’t make it into the top 30, I was removing them all together. I’m unlikely alone in doing so.
Where to find the News Feed Preferences link.
The Challenge: Only 30!!?
The other challenge I found was choosing the top 30! It’s not an easy exercise, I could have easily chosen 60 – but Facebook limits us to 30.
So while this new feature is a potential opportunity to ‘make the cut’ – be chosen as important – many more, even interesting Pages, won’t make the cut and may even see a decline in Page numbers.
This highlights the importance, once again, of working hard to deliver content that your target audience will want to see in their news feed. And then, looking for opportunities to pay Facebook to promote at least some of this great content to those who have liked your Page (assuming they are in your target audience) and to others who may not have liked your Page but who may be in your target audience.
Choosing News Feed Preferences
For those users who would like to choose their top 30, look for the down arrow (#1 in the image) in the top right corner of the Facebook bar. Click this to open the drop down menu. Then click ‘News Feed Preferences’ (#2 in the image) to make your choices.