You should be fine if you
keep some things in mind
Disclaimer: We scanned the data before the big Cambridge Analyitica scandal.
During this period Facebook started implementing its new newsfeed algorithm which should make the news feeds of the users more personal and therefore more relevant for each individual. How? By only showing friends’ posts and banishing business and media pages from peoples’ newsfeeds.
Sounds like a real game changer doesn’t it?
But the good news is: For many radio stations, the new newsfeed algorithm shouldn’t be as damaging as it is for “normal” brands, if you keep some things in mind. First: It’s all about engaging your audience in a conversation. It is not like radio stations are selling something. And normally your audience doesn’t get this feeling. So, if you are doing it right, your content should be stuff people want to share. Because then friends are sharing your branded content amongst each other, which will be normally shown in everyone’s newsfeed without any restriction.
THE “EVERYTHING NEW FACEBOOK”
IN THEORY
With the new algorithm, user actions and interactions (liking, commenting, sharing) take priority over the passive consumption of content.
That means that people sharing the content, commenting and even liking it is something that will help your brand to get significantly more reach of your content.
Sharing and commenting are here highlighted as the golden grail when it comes to reach. But be aware: “fishing for comments” is something that will downgrade your posts. By fishing, we mean posts like “Tag your best friend” or “@N has to get you a pizza” etc.
Another thing that works very well at the moment is live video. Mostly because they get much more comments than standard videos! So really worth trying it out.
If you are interested in all the updates of the new algorithm, I highly recommend this article – “The Secrets Behind the New Facebook Algorithm”.
HOW ARE RADIO STATIONS
DOING?
Did anything change for the Facebook pages of radio stations?
In short: it is too early to tell but many trends show that many stations are already getting less engagement from their fans.
With our tool – Social Media Activity Tracker – we can measure the number of reactions, comments, and shares of every individual Facebook page. Some radio stations seem to become less active than they used to be before, with fewer posts per day than in the last few months.
– November 2017 — February 2018 — Radio stations from Austria, Croatia, Czech republic, Germany, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Serbia and UK all summed up –
As you can see the number of likes is really high in this sample size. And the drop is significant. From more than 12 million likes in Dec ’17 to less than 9.5 million in Jan ’18. That’s a drop of more than 23%! At the same time the average interactions are dropping.
Worth noting is that those who keep posting a lot of content are not losing any engagement. Whereas the drop in average audience engagement is similar for all, no matter if you are still posting a lot or lately just one time per day.
What was quite surprising for us was, that there is a significant drop in the average engagement of videos. We are not sure yet if Facebook stopped pushing videos to users, meaning showing them in their newsfeeds, or if it is just a glitch that happened in February! Time will show.
On the other hand, what is not very surprising is, that the engagement on links keeps falling!
– November 2017 — February 2018 — Radio stations from Austria, Croatia, Czech republic, Germany, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Serbia and UK all summed up –
– November 2017 — February 2018 — Radio stations from Austria, Croatia, Czech republic, Germany, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Serbia and UK all summed up –
To sum up
Even after all the latest scandals about data sharing and ad targeting you should be aware that your audience is still using Facebook!
In the short term, the new newsfeed algorithm doesn’t help us. It’s a bit of a “pain in the ass”. The things that used to work are now either outdated or even not recommendable.
But, that doesn’t mean you should quit Facebook! Having a clear content plan can now pay off in the long way. Also, don’t forget to experiment with new types of posts.
Each time you post something, ask yourself these three questions:
- Why would anyone share this?
- Why would anyone comment on this?
- Why would anyone like this?
Tweak the text or add some call to action to your posts that will make them more engaging.
Every like, share or comment you get is an endorsement of your brand by your audience. It means that you get them!
