With 2018 barely under our feet, Facebook has announced major changes to their newsfeed that will greatly affect your business page.

Basically, they are reducing the reach, or total views, of your organic business posts. You may have already noticed the change, but if you haven’t yet, you definitely will soon. Mark Zuckerberg had this to say about the update…

     “We built Facebook to help people stay connected and bring us closer together with the people that matter to us. That’s why we’ve always put friends and family at the core of the experience… But recently we’ve gotten feedback from our community that public content — posts from businesses, brands and media — is crowding out the personal moments that lead us to connect more with each other… I’m changing the goal I give our product teams from focusing on helping you find relevant content to helping you have more meaningful social interactions… As we roll this out, you’ll see less public content like posts from businesses, brands, and media. And the public content you see more will be held to the same standard — it should encourage meaningful interactions between people.”
So what does this mean for you? Here are three main takeaways that will help you keep your social media marketing relevant, and keep you engaged with your audience.

Be more personal – Gone are the days when you could expect solid reach from generic property listings and cold content. Now, if you want to attract a large audience, you need to increase the personality behind your posts. Talk about what you like about the property. Share the key insights from the articles you include. Showcase your clients. Take sold selfies with the new buyers. Highlight the humans that run your office. Do anything you can to show a personal touch, and your content will be more attractive to your audience.
Invite more interaction –  If Facebook is prioritising posts with social interaction, then you need to encourage interaction within your posts. When posting a property, ask your audience what their favourite feature is. If you are posting industry articles, explain your stance and encourage discussion. As well, offer your expert insights by inviting your followers to ask questions. As your post engagement increases, your reach will too.
Use their paid advertising services – Facebook has announced no changes to their paid posts, so if you want to reach your audience, but don’t have the time to develop engaging content, you can always pay to increase your reach. If you don’t have enough money to boost every post, or create campaigns for each listing, focus your efforts on the most important posts, and monitor their results.

While this change will have dramatic effects throughout the industry, it actually presents an opportunity for real estate agents to improve their social media presence. Anyone that increases their post engagement will simultaneously improve their relationships with potential clients. This means they will be more likely to choose your services when they are ready to make a move in the market. Overall, I think it’s a net positive.

As always, I would love to hear what you think. Is this change good or bad for the industry? How will you adjust your strategy? Let me know your thoughts and questions in the comments below.