On Friday, Facebook made a massive announcement many social media marketers are calling Facebook Zero. It basically boils down to: if the 65 million business pages do not pay Facebook to promote their content. no one will see it (zero people).
There will be exceptions. Those poses that promote community. Those posts with video (Facebook Live video, vs uploaded video or YouTube links). You will also see posts from companies you choose to SEE FIRST. (Considering the number of company pages sweepers LIKE, it will be a daunting tasks to pick a select few.)
You will also see posts from those companies pay Facebook to boost, plus ads companies pay Facebook to push.
I told my clients, a full two years before the initial Pay-to-Play model was implemented by Facebook, they needed to own their marketing as I could see the writing on the wall. That is now more important than ever, based on the recent changes announce by Facebook.
Here are the links to various Facebook videos and articles I promised in my video:
- Social Media Examiner’s Facebook Live explaining the announcement, paragraph by paragraph.
- Facebook marketing expert Mari Smith’s post on her take on the changes
- Facebook’s announcement video
- The Boss Magazine’s interview with Michael Stelzner: How to Survive the Facebook News Feed Changes
- Waylon Lewis of Elephant Journal discussing the upcoming changes in a Facebook Live
I believe we are going to see a change in the hobby. I have yet to formulate how it will look exactly. Right now:
- I believe We will see a move for companies to increase their newsletter subscribers.
- I hope we see a return to online entry sweepstakes.
- We may see a bigger shift to Twitter and Instagram giveaways.
Only time will tell …
What are your thoughts?
I think this is ridiculous. Facebook was meant, at least I thought it was, to have the user pick what they like to follow let it be a person or business and then allow the user to see each and every post that the people and companies they follow in their personal timeline. Picking people and companies to see first is like doubling the amount of work users need to do. Moreover, I am sure as a user, we will be limited to the amount we can see. Lastly, I don’t always want to see ‘McDonalds’ or ‘Dell Computers’ first on my timeline. I just want to see them in the natural time that they post.
In regard to businesses, the capturing of valid & quality e-mail addresses as well as creating/sending newsletters is going to be critical. Marketing vehicles have always been fluid in regard to their ROI & the flavor of the day albeit the changes weren’t as frequent. Print media fell out of favor with the internet and now Facebook and others who essentially control a great deal of communication can call the shots. I suspect that ultimately the shareholders will determine if this is the best course of action for FB .
Online entry sweepstakes PLEASE!!!!!!
It will be interesting! I do subscribe to a lot of newsletters already as I like to know about the products & companies plus I like to know about their promotions & contests.
I would love to see more on-line sweepstakes. I really don’t like the FB referral contests as it is really difficult for the average person to win one of these. I would like to learn how to do Instagram and Twitter contests/sweeps.