Over the last few years, social media has blossomed as a major source of traffic to online businesses. Facebook, Twitter and the like drive people to websites through consumer engagement with these different channels. However, it seems like Facebook is attempting to change their relationship with both business owners and consumers in regards to advertisements.
In a post today, the company explained that they are going to start changing what people see on their news feed to make it more ‘meaningful’. What this means at a base level is that people will begin to see more posts from people they know and less from news organisations and businesses they follow, potentially diminishing Facebook’s usefulness as an advertising stream. The idea behind it is to allow people to see more posts they actually care about, and attempt to improve users’ wellbeing in the face of increasing criticism of the effect of social media platforms on users’ mental health.
For business owners however, it presents an interesting change. Facebook is likely attempting to prevent what it calls ‘context collapse’, wherein people are posting less and less about themselves online. Advertisers are able to specifically target individual users based on their personal information, so without these information, Facebook will lose out. Businesses too, however, will likely find that Facebook is no longer a truly reliable source of traffic.
As Facebook moves towards a more social friendly approach towards posts, businesses will lose out - especially smaller ones that can’t afford massive advertising budgets. There’s a good chance that for many, these smaller businesses will be drowned out and simply disappear beneath the new, ‘meaningful’ posts.
As a small business owner then, what can you do to mitigate the damage of these changes? The first two answers are the most obvious - and potentially the most drastic. Either begin to move further afield in terms of your social media output and focus more on the likes of Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram, or pay out more in terms of Facebook advertising. There’s a possibility that’s an ulterior motive for Facebook anyway - whether you need to go that far will of course be up to you.
If you’re a small business that’s likely to get swept up in these changes, then this is absolutely something to start preparing for. Get in touch with us now to learn more and see how we can help: 01189 100 012 or contact us here.