On January 11th, Facebook announced that it will be making some significant changes to its News Feed algorithm. What will those changes entail? The algorithm is being tweaked to “prioritize posts that spark conversations and meaningful interactions between people” and to “prioritize posts from friends and family over public content.”
That sounds great for your personal profile, but the results could negatively affect PHCs. Why? Because these changes will impact how many abortion-minded women you reach through Facebook. In order to adapt, your center will need to create a more meaningful content strategy and re-evaluate how you allocate your ad budget based on your location.
We’ve compiled 6 ways your PHC can adjust to these changes and continue to reach abortion-minded women on Facebook.
1. Encourage fans and followers to add your page to Facebook’s see first feature
With the changes affecting mostly pages, they will take the biggest hit in engagement. But, this “see first” feature on Facebook could help the most engaged users to continue to see your posts by telling Facebook that they would like to prioritize your page’s content.
2. Incorporate videos into your content strategy
With video engagement blowing photo engagement out of the water on Facebook and Instagram, you may want to consider shifting your strategy to include social videos. When executed effectively, you will likely see your engagement increase and your cost-per-engagement decrease.
3. Use groups more often
Facebook is really building out groups. While this may not be as applicable to your client page, it can do wonders for your donor page. Within private Facebook groups, you can interact with a group of like-minded individuals who are more likely to engage with and support your PHC. Here, you can share articles, swap stories, promote events and even garner more donations by talking directly to your most dedicated supporters.
4. Use Messenger to FOSTER one-on-one conversations
Facebook Messenger has taken off in the last few months, especially with the launch of Messenger Ads. Not only does it allow you to connect with your target audience, but it allows for a DIRECT connection. Here, you can provide a safe place for women to discuss their concerns and give them the support they need without even having to compete with the news feed clutter.
5. Focus on meaningful engagements
This could mean publishing less content via your Facebook page, but focusing more energy on finding what really engages your target audience. You’ll want to check your analytics to see what has worked for your page in the past and use those key insights to create posts that reinforce your message and inspire engagement. Remember, now more than ever, it’s about quality over quantity!
6. Use Facebook advertising for awareness and promotions
The way you advertise on Facebook will likely change once the news feed changes are in effect. While you can use Facebook advertising for a variety of objectives, you may need to shift to an awareness focus. This means using awareness ads instead of focusing on likes/followers, website traffic campaigns and the like. The way you process key metrics and which metrics you care about most will need to make a shift as well once you understand the platform’s new goal and how your page fits into this strategy.
Overall, the goal of these changes is to help with the overcrowding of publishers on Facebook and focus more on meaningful interactions between people. PHCs need to discover where they fit into the conversation.
Additionally, because these changes haven’t gone into effect yet, everything is up to speculation. We don’t want you to panic! Your target audience is still on social media, that will not change. However, to reach them successfully, your strategy will have to adapt to ensure that you continue to reach them.
Choose Life Marketing’s social media team works diligently to stay abreast of the ever-changing landscape of social media and can help your PHC navigate Facebook’s new environment. Contact us today for a free social media marketing quote.
