Facebook advertising is a marketing strategy that I typically recommend to my clients – not only can it be affordable, but it can really work to produce website leads, product buyers, event attendees, new business and more. What makes Facebook advertising so unique is that it gives you the ability to target your ideal clientele. With targeting from location to education to life events, you are able to find the exact buyer you are looking for, and one who is likely looking for your business.

However, the Facebook advertising community is changing. In a recent announcement, Facebook said they will be changing what people see in their News Feeds in an effort to create more “meaningful” interactions. This means that instead of seeing content from brands and publishers, people will see more from their close family and friends. According to Facebook, this update would primarily impact publishers that have been able to reach readers for free. The update, apparently, will not affect the sponsored posts via Facebook advertising.

This update does fall in line with Facebook’s goal of creating a more “meaningful” experience on their platform. People will be inspired to engage more with the ones they love rather than blogs and brands. The downside to this update is that the days of organic reach are definitely over. If you want your content read, you have to invest. The impact will be positive for users, but challenging for businesses.

Nevertheless, there are ways in which businesses can take advantage of these changes and enhance their brands even more with or without Facebook advertising. What better time than now to make your brand more relatable to your audience, and to share content that is even more relevant and “meaningful.” A few ways to do this can be through the following:

• Use Facebook Live more often. Facebook Live videos are trending to be even more popular than non-live videos.
• Take advantage of Groups. As they mentioned in their announcement, Facebook will be building out their Groups feature.
• Integrate Messenger into your strategy. Initiate more one-on-one conversations with your customers.
• Encourage fans and followers to prioritize your business within their news feeds. Instructions for this can be found here.

Facebook advertising is likely to become the only way to get people to see your content on Facebook. The changes will occur over the course of 2018, so the time to create a strategy for these changes is now. For a customized marketing strategy for your business, with Facebook advertising or not, contact Christina today.