{"id":58,"date":"2021-03-09T03:24:40","date_gmt":"2021-03-09T03:24:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.digitalvasu.com\/blog\/?p=58"},"modified":"2021-03-09T03:25:33","modified_gmt":"2021-03-09T03:25:33","slug":"social-media-guideline-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.digitalvasu.com\/blog\/social-media-guideline-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"Social Media Guideline 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A brief history of the Facebook algorithm:
2004 \u2013 2009:<\/strong>
Facebook was born in 2004, but its newsfeed didn\u2019t show up until 2006. The Like button premiered in
2007, but it\u2019s probably safe to say that Facebook didn\u2019t have what we think of as \u201cthe algorithm\u201d until
2009, when the platform debuted a new sorting order for newsfeeds based on each post\u2019s
popularity. (Goodbye, reverse-chronological order).
2009 \u2013 2019:<\/strong>
A decade of further tinkering behind the curtain created the experience that billions of users now take for
granted: personalized feeds created by galaxy-brain software that analyzes tens of thousands of data
points in order to maximize the amount of time people spent on the platform. Because more screen time
= more ads seen = more money for Facebook\u2019s shareholders.
2015<\/strong>
For instance, in 2015, Facebook introduced the \u201cSee First\u201d feature to let users choose which Pages they\u2019d
like to see at the top of their feeds. They also started downranking Pages that posted a high volume of
overly promotional organic content. (i.e., organic posts with content identical to ads.)
2016
<\/strong>In 2016, Facebook began prioritizing posts from friends and family, as well as \u201cinformative\u201d and
\u201centertaining\u201d content. It also started measuring a post\u2019s value based on the amount of time users spent
with it, even if they didn\u2019t like or share it. Live video was also prioritized, as it was earning 3x as much
watch time, compared to regular video.
2017<\/strong>
In 2017, some big changes included weighing reactions (i.e., hearts or the angry face) more than likes. They
also started weighing videos by completion rate.
2018<\/strong>
However, in January 2018, responding in part to widespread criticism, Mark Zuckerberg announced
Facebook news feed changes that prioritize \u201cposts that spark conversations and meaningful
interactions.\u201d The change was meant to increase the quality, rather than the quantity, of the time that
people spend on Facebook, as well as take more responsibility for how the platform affects its users\u2019 wellbeing.
In the short term, brands had valid concerns about the fact that their organic content would no longer be
prioritized as highly as posts from friends, family, and groups. The algorithm was now set to prioritize
posts that earned a lot of high-value engagement (eg., comments, reactions, comment replies\u2014and if a
post was shared over Messenger to a friend, that counted too). In other words: to get the reach to earn
engagement, brands had to be earning engagement already.
2019<\/strong>
A year later, in March 2019, at least one study found that while engagement had increased 50% year over
year, the algorithm changes also increased divisiveness and outrage as it tended to promote posts that got
people worked up. (Fox News, whose reporting evokes strong opinions from many, became the top
publisher on Facebook by engagement.)
Simultaneously, the algorithm ended up rewarding fringe content (a.k.a. fake news) from unreliable
sources that knew how to game the system.
The Facebook algorithm will probably always remain a work-in-progress. So let\u2019s take a look at what
matters to brands who want to optimize their organic reach today.
How the Facebook algorithm works in 2020
The algorithm currently ranks the posts each user sees in the order that they\u2019re likely to enjoy them, based on a variety of factors, ranking signal. Ranking signals are data points about a user\u2019s past behavior and the behavior of everyone else on the platform, too.
Facebook mentions three major categories of ranking signals:
<\/strong>\u2022 Who a user typically interacts with?
\u2022 The type of media in the post (eg.- video, link, photo, etc.)
\u2022 The popularity of the post.
In March 2019, Facebook introduced a new tool to build more transparency and user control into the
newsfeed. The \u201cWhy am I seeing this post?\u201d button does exactly as it says: it helps people understand why
the algorithm has surfaced that post.
It also lets people tell the algorithm directly what\u2019s important\u2014or not so important, or downright
irritating\u2014to them. Meaning they can tell Facebook that they want fewer posts from a particular person,
or to see more from a particular Page.
Next, in May 2019, Facebook began directly asking users questions, via survey, to get more context on
what content matters to them. The surveys asked users:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Who their close friends are;<\/li>
  2. What posts (links, photos and videos) they find valuable;<\/li>
  3. How important a specific Facebook Group that they\u2019ve joined is to them;<\/li>
  4. How interested they are in seeing content from specific Pages that they follow.
    Facebook used all these answers to update the algorithm with the patterns they extrapolated. For
    instance, the Pages and Groups that people identified as most meaningful were often the ones that they\u2019d
    followed for a long time, the ones they engaged with often, and the ones that had a lot of posts and
    activity.
    9 tips for working with the Facebook algorithm
    With all this background, what can brands do to make sure their Facebook strategy is aligned with the
    Facebook algorithm\u2019s priorities?<\/li>
  5. Start conversations that get people talking to each other
    According to Facebook, one of the algorithm\u2019s key ranking signals is whether a user has previously engaged
    with your Page. And while no one is going to interact with your brand Page like they would with their
    friends\u2019 pages, those likes and shares go a long way towards increasing your reach on future posts.
    That means you have to put in the elbow-grease before the algorithm can start to recognize and reward
    your Page\u2019s value.
    And by elbow-grease we do not mean shoddy, obvious engagement-bait. (The algorithm can tell, and it
    will down-rank your post and maybe also your Page.)
    At the end of the day the best way to earn more engagement is to be genuine. Or maybe try curious,
    funny, interesting, or inspiring. Regardless.
    And always remember that you don\u2019t need to seek out controversy to get engagement. Tapping into a
    strong emotion (cats; baby cats; baby cats uncomfortable; baby cats in danger) will do the trick, too.<\/li>
  6. Post when your audience is online
    Recency is another ranking signal that matters as the algorithm selects which posts to show people. Newer
    is better. Now is best.
    But when is your audience online?
    B2B brand posts perform best between 9am and 2pm on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday
    \u2022 B2C brand posts perform best at noon on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday
    Take a look at your Facebook Page Insights or Hootsuite Analytics to test and benchmark the best time for
    your audience, specifically.<\/li>
  7. Never post content that will get you down-ranked
    We know you would never do this anyway. But still, just FYI, here are a few categories of content that
    Facebook has explicitly stated will get your Page down-ranked immediately:
    \u2022 Links to sites that use scraped or stolen content with no added value
    \u2022 Borderline content (a.k.a offensive but not prohibited content)
    \u2022 Mis information and fake news
    \u2022 Misleading health information or dangerous \u201ccures\u201d
    \u2022 \u201cDeep fake videos\u201d or manipulated videos flagged as false by third-party fact-checkers<\/li>
  8. Post high-quality videos longer than 3 minutes
    In May 2019, Facebook announced that the newsfeed will increasingly surface quality, original videos. The
    algorithm is increasing the influence of these three ranking factors:
    \u2022 Loyalty and intent: videos that people search for and return to;
    \u2022 Video length and view duration: videos that people watch past the 1-minute mark, and that are
    longer than 3 minutes;
    \u2022 Originality: videos that aren\u2019t repurposed from other sources and that have plenty of added value.
    If you\u2019re a video creator on Facebook, keep those guidelines in mind so that you\u2019re giving the algorithm
    exactly the kind of video it wants. (And don\u2019t forget tip #1: baby cats in danger.)
    Pro Tip: If you\u2019re a wiz at video, make sure you\u2019re using Facebook live video, which averages six times more
    engagement than regular video.<\/li>
  9. Post often and consistently
    According to Facebook, Pages that post often are more likely to be meaningful to their audience.
    Therefore, posting frequency is a ranking signal that can affect how high up in the newsfeed your posts are
    placed.
    We\u2019ve said it before, and we\u2019ll say it again: a social media content calendar goes a long way towards
    achieving the kind of consistent quality that will keep your audience engaged and attentive.
    Hootsuite\u2019s planning tool takes care of all of that, if you\u2019re inclined to give it a try.<\/li>
  10. Leverage Facebook Groups that are meaningful to your audience
    At Facebook\u2019s 2019 F8 conference we heard that Groups continue to be one of the most valuable parts of
    Facebook, according to user behavior. What\u2019s key for brands here is that Facebook said people \u201cmay see
    more content from Groups in their newsfeed.\u201d
    Facebook itself is doing its part to promote the feature with a redesigned Groups tab that shows new
    activity. As well, by helping people discover new communities with a Suggested Groups sidebar (as well as
    in other high-vis spots throughout the platform, like the Gaming tab and Marketplace).
    With Facebook\u2019s \u201cF5\u201d design refresh devoting significant screen real estate to Groups, and the algorithm
    prioritizing Groups content, brands should plan to take advantage.
    How? Consider starting a new Group based on your brand Page. A Group can be where you foster
    discussion, education, problem-solving and, yes, solid entertainment about the topics that matter to your
    audience.<\/li>
  11. Support your organic wins with paid ads
    While your brand\u2019s organic content can deepen your relationship with your audience, Facebook ads remain
    the best way to expand your brand awareness to the 2.4 billion potential customers who use Facebook.
    And Facebook\u2019s targeting capabilities may get even more important for advertisers who care about
    audience data, given Google\u2019s recent announcement that Chrome is phasing out third-party cookies.
    As you track your high-performing content, make sure you capitalize on the ability to turn it into low-CPC
    (a.k.a cheap) advertising for your brand\u2019s voice. With Hootsuite Ads, you can set up, test and analyze an
    entire funnel\u2019s worth of ads:<\/li>
  12. Let your followers know how to prioritize your content in their newsfeeds
    With Facebook\u2019s move towards increased transparency in how the newsfeed ranks content, your audience
    has more control than ever over what they see.
    Let people know that when they follow or like your Page, they can also check the \u201cSee First\u201d preference to
    let the algorithm know that your posts are important to them.
    Of course, this tactic works best when you are consistently producing content that resonates with your
    audience and directly supports your Facebook marketing strategy.<\/li>
  13. Empower your people to advocate for you
    The decline of organic reach has savvy marketers turning to tried-and-true tactics like good old word of
    mouth. Except, you know, at scale.
    This is certainly the premise behind influencer marketing, but another, possibly even more authentic way
    to spread the word is by tapping your brand\u2019s employees.
    Whether it\u2019s just you and your dog, or you pay salaries in five different currencies, an employee\u2019s good
    word is solid gold. (After all, they\u2019re the ones who know the inside scoop on your brand.)<\/li><\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    A brief history of the Facebook algorithm:2004 \u2013 2009:Facebook was born in 2004, but its newsfeed didn\u2019t show up until 2006. The Like button premiered in2007, but it\u2019s probably safe to say that Facebook didn\u2019t have what we think of as \u201cthe algorithm\u201d until2009, when the platform debuted a new sorting order for newsfeeds based […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":61,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-media-marketing-smm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.digitalvasu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.digitalvasu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.digitalvasu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.digitalvasu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.digitalvasu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.digitalvasu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60,"href":"https:\/\/www.digitalvasu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58\/revisions\/60"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.digitalvasu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.digitalvasu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.digitalvasu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.digitalvasu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}