Earlier today Facebook announced upcoming changes to their news feed:
We’ve completely rebuilt each story to be much more vibrant and colorful and highlight the content that your friends are sharing. Photos, news articles, maps and events all look brighter and more beautiful.
Users will also be able to further customize their news feed experience:
To make sure you’re seeing all the stories you want to see, we’re introducing several new feeds to explore in addition to the same News Feed you have today:
– All Friends – a feed that shows you everything your friends are sharing
– Photos – a feed with nothing but photos from your friends and the Pages you like
– Music – a feed with posts about the music you listen to
– Following – a feed with the latest news from the Pages you like and the people you follow.
So what does this all mean for you?
Content reigns supreme.
I know you’ve heard this story before. But now, more than ever, this is true. And for a couple of reasons too.
- Photos. Facebook is going to have a news feed dedicated to photos. Your need to understand this if your personal page or brand page is looking to increase or maintain engagement. Sharing a link to a photo will not cut it anymore. You will now NEED to upload photos and share them this way. I also suggest using creative and compelling photos with a focus on great stories and superb quality. Facebook will not change EdgeRank. If your content is not shared, liked or commented on, you will find your content not being engaging. And if you’re a brand that means you’ll be spending more financial resources on ads than you should be.
- Engaging content. This includes content such as photos, videos, and even polls for instance. The only way to know what is engaging your friends or community is to read the numbers. What is your data saying? If you’re sharing content with friends, do your friends engage with your content or are you left wondering if anyone saw anything? If you manage a brand’s page take a look at your Facebook insights. What are they telling you? What types of content is being shared the most? Which content has high virality numbers?
These are just a couple of reasons you need to pay attention to Facebook’s new news feed design. Over the next few days, more articles and thoughts are sure to be shared online and on social media. What are your thoughts on Facebook’s newly designed news feed? Share your comments.