Facebook has changed its algorithm once again.
This should be of no surprise, though, as they have done so various times since their inception in 2004.
Facebook has had eight major updates from 2006-2019.
Each of those times, social media marketers have had to adjust their approach to take advantage of the new updates, so more of their posts could be seen by their intended audience. And despite their best efforts, each time Facebook does an “algorithm makeover,” it seems to drop their reach a little bit, which over time, adds up to a lot. Facebook’s organic reach dropped from 5.4 percent in 2015 to 1.2 percent in 2018. It doesn’t look like it is getting any better either as last year (2019) only 5.5 percent of Facebook posts were seen by followers. While the Facebook algorithm is not the only factor in extending reach, it is one of the more important ones. What does this mean for brands and marketers who wish to reach their audience organically without always having to pay every time they create a post? It means they had better learn some strategies on how to make the new 2020 Facebook algorithm work in their favor rather than against them.
Facebook’s New Algorithm
The Facebook algorithm is designed to measure the quality of each post, so users get more of those posts they are interested in
In other words, Facebook only wants those posts showing up in users’ News Feeds that the user deems valuable and that they will engage with positively.
How does Facebook make sure that this happens? Generally, the Facebook algorithm assigns a post a numeric value by considering the following four factors:
Inventory: All content that is allowed to appear on a user’s Facebook News Feed, including friend and publisher posts.
Signals: Includes all of the information about a post such as type of publisher, types of content, age of content, and purpose of the content.
Predictions: Represents the likelihood of a positive reaction to the content.
Score: A final number given to a piece of content based on the above factors.
If the score is high enough, the post gets shown. If it is too low, it doesn’t get shown. It is as simple as that.
The new Facebook algorithm goes a couple of steps further and includes several detailed signals to help boost user experience, engagement, and time spent on site.
The 2020 algorithm gives users more say-so in what is allowed to show up in their News Feed by taking into consideration what content they have viewed and how they interact with it in the past.
The three most highly-valued ranking signals for 2020 include:
- Past Publisher Interactions
- Post Media Interactions (links, videos, images, etc…)
- Post Popularity (likes, shares, comments)
These three ranking signals were given higher value for the new algorithm update because of user feedback.
In part 2 of this 2 part series, we’ll discuss what companies can do to make Facebook’s new algorithms work for them.
To continue reading part two of the series, click here.