Facebook Algorithm works
Learn about its benefits
Meet the new algorithm
Like a lot of other brands, Beautification “benefited a
lot from organic growth in the beginning.” But times have changed, and
Beautification has stayed on top of them by adjusting their strategy
accordingly. This adjustment extends from their paid strategy to post
frequency. The lesson? Don’t stick to what you think “the rules” are on social.
They’re not likely to stay the same for long.
How Does It Work?
The new Facebook algorithm works by ranking all
available posts that can display on a user’s News Feed based on how likely that
user will have a positive reaction.
Facebook’s
algorithm for ranking and displaying content on your News Feed is based on four
factors:
1.
The Inventory of
all posts available to display.
2.
Signals that
tell Facebook what each post is.
3.
Predictions on
how you will react to each post.
4.
A Final
Score assigned to the content based on all factors considered
Works by prioritizing
content posted from friends over publishers, with a focus on “meaningful
interactions.”
Since
the data controversy erupted around the social network in
late 2017, Facebook has worked to improve transparency around how it ranks
content on the News Feed.
The 4 Factors
The
goal is to “show stories that matter to users,”
according to Adam Mosseri, VP of Facebook’s News Feed Management. With that in
mind, you should know how Facebook’s different algorithm factors work together
to determine which stories “matter” to a user.
Here are the four organic factors that
determine if a story is relevant for a user’s News Feed.
1.
Inventory
Inventory
represents the stock of all content that can display to a user on Facebook’s
News Feed.
This
includes everything posted from friends and publishers.
2.
Signals
Signals
represent the information that Facebook can gather about a piece of content.
Signals are the single factor that advertisers
have control over. These are your inputs that
Facebook interprets; type of content, the publisher, its age, purpose, and
more.
You want
your content to signal to Facebook that it’s meaningful and relevant to your
target audience.
3.
Predictions
Predictions represent the behavior of a user and how likely
they are predicted to have a positive interaction with a content piece.
4. Score
Score is the final number assigned to a piece of content
based on the likelihood the user will respond positively to it.
Meaningful Interactions Are
Valued Most
As
advertisers, the only part of the process that we have control over are the
signals of our content.
These
signals can be divided into two categories: passive and active.
Passive signals include view time, story type,
time posted, and other metrics non-active metrics.
Active signals include likes, shares, comments,
and other active events that prompt engagement.
You
should tailor your content to promote positive engagement, or what Facebook has
defined as “meaningful interactions.”
Active signals drive meaningful interactions:
·
Comments
·
Replies
·
Likes
·
Shares
Spam Recognition
The new
Facebook algorithm is also better than ever at recognizing biased content. In
an effort to curb misleading health claims, as well as falsely advertised medical
products, they’ve made the algorithm even better at detecting spammy or click
bait titles.
Pages
that share content Facebook labels clickbait will find themselves penalized
within the algorithm, resulting in reduced distribution within the Newsfeed.
However, once the offending content stops posting this kind of content, there
posts will no longer be penalized.
Facebook Page Impressions Calculation
On
October 17th, Facebook updated its timeframe to filter repeated page
impressions, resulting in a more accurate depiction of organic Facebook stats. Matt Navarra shows some of the changes below:
If
you’ve noticed a decline in your stats, don’t panic just yet, however. It
doesn’t mean that your entire Facebook strategy is broken.
It
means that marketers should focus on the fact that they now have a more
accurate benchmark from which to compare ad performance and prepare to boost
organic impressions accordingly.
5 Best Practices That Can
Make Your Content More Meaningful
Here
are some guidelines for keeping your content meaningful in Facebook’s eyes,
based on Matt
Navara and Paul Armstrong’s coverage of Facebook’s News Feed webinar.
1.
Be a conversation starter
You
want your content to start conversations and positive interactions between your
followers and others.
Don’t
just focus on consumption — your content should prompt people to stop,
interact, and share with one another.
2.
Focus on your audience
Your
content should always be relevant to your core audience — the people you want
to build a community around.
Products,
education, lifestyle imagery — it should all build on your identity as a brand
answering to a specific audience.
3.
Put ad dollars behind content with organic momentum
The new algorithm values content that performs well organically.
Content
that already has strong organic traction means lower CPCs — which combined with
ad dollars can act as a snowball effect for your content.
Conversely,
don’t waste ad dollars behind poor-performing organic content. It will have
higher CPCs and cost you more while offering less in return.
Ahene says,
If a post is performing well with engagement, likes, and shares — then there’s
an opportunity to place additional ad dollars behind to drive
that performance even further.
4.
Avoid clickbait
Remember
all of those “like if…” and “share if you are…” posts?
This is
considered engagement baiting, it doesn’t add value or interaction
for users.
Stay
away from asking people to “please comment, like, and share.” Your content
should inspire them to engage without having to ask.
What
values or issues is your brand building conversation around?
5.
Track your content performance
After
you’ve published your content, remember to use Facebook Insights to track the performance of your
content.
Keep
track of how your different content pieces are performing engagement-wise.
Learn
from your Insights data and then optimize from there.
The
Final Takeaway
The new
Facebook algorithm is sophisticated, and no amount of information is going to
help you hack it.
The
information we do know, however, is just enough for advertisers to build a
better content strategy and improve visibility on the News Feed.
Keep your content meaningful by being a conversation
starter, an advocate for your audience, and boosting your best-performing
organic content.
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