My friend Kami Huyse just wrote a really interesting article that states Facebook is changing its algorithm for Pages. Great news for the consumer that wants more updates from his BFF from high school, but not so great for brands and nonprofits with very little cash to spend on advertising. So, what is a poor nonprofit to do?
Don’t Panic
Chances are you didn’t know that there was an algorithm behind who sees your posts and who does not. Even if you did, it makes sense that with upwards of 1.4 billion users and 42 million pages out there you would need some gating. You can thank Facebook for only sharing the top most interesting posts with you and sparing you from the 100 times your cousin posts a picture of her cat. We all know that THIS cat is the best.
Review Your Current Insights
Make sure you know what has worked to engage your audience in the past. Visit your insights page and check out posts by type and start keeping your eye out for shifts in views. Keep a log of “home runs” and continue to engage with your fans. Do this weekly and note any differences.
Act Accordingly
So you’ve noticed that your text only posts have dropped off, but your photo views haven’t. Well, it makes sense that you should try to add more photos. You should always mix it up for your audience’s sake, but be smart. Keep track of what is working and what changes you can make to keep showing up in timelines for free.
Consider Boosting Posts
Have a really important campaign coming up? Consider boosting posts. I know you are a nonprofit and you don’t have a lot of money, but if you are going to get in front of a lot of people and potentially get more eyeballs on your posts then you should consider putting a few dollars behind a campaign to improve your chances. Look at what you should expect from a normal post and then determine what your goals are. Facebook’s Ads manager is pretty easy to understand and it will allow you to see the potential number of people you can get in front of with a few bucks. Play around with the targeting. It’s pretty easy to determine if funds placed to boost a post will translate into clicks or downloads.
Prove the ROI
Your boss will appreciate this one. Take all this great knowledge you’ve learned about your posts and determine where you should spend your time and efforts going forward. Maybe you find out that boosting a post doesn’t mean more people will visit your website. That’s fine! Money saved for the future. Maybe you realize that you have to use your funds more wisely on other forms of advertising. That’s okay too. BUT- you don’t know till you try and you can’t prove ROI without measuring your successes and your failures. Things change, so update your plan accordingly.
