Yesterday Facebook announced that text-only posts from business pages will get less weight in the algorithm going forward. You may have noticed over the last several months that posts on your business page that were text only got higher reach numbers than posts with photos or posts with links including excerpts. Some of you may have tried to take advantage of this by deleting the excerpts that come up when you add a link or by avoiding adding links or photos all together. Well, going forward those text-only posts will not get you as much reach as they have been.
I have always told my clients to be genuine and just share in a way that your reader is going to appreciate the most. If a link to an article or a photo helps them understand what you are saying better than text alone, then by all means, include the link or photo. Photos and links have always earned more engagement than text-only posts so that is evidence that readers respond well to them.
While we like to complain that Facebook changes things all the time, the truth is that each change in the algorithm is aimed at improving the user experience — and they’re pretty good at figuring that out.
Even after going public and having investors and advertisers to please, it’s still ultimately in Facebook’s best interest to make user satisfaction priority. The same is true for you and your business. Don’t try to use tricks to get more reach, just share your posts in a way that you would want to see them on your feed. I promise it will ultimately be a win-win for you and your followers.
