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What do the new Facebook Algorithm Changes mean for Photographers?

Post about Facebook algorithm changes and what do they mean for photographers

The recent announcement by Facebook has been met with real mixed reactions. Photographers are worried that they’re going to completely disappear from their followers’ newsfeed unless they spend a ton of cash on ads. But let’s face it, facebook has been cutting your organic reach (and your paid reach for that matter) for years. How much of a difference can this new change really make when 1% organic reach is pretty standard these days anyway? What do the new facebook algorithm changes mean for photographers? And how can you ensure you reach the eyeballs of the people who matter?

I went live inside our Facebook group at the weekend to dive into the Facebook announcement. Including what it contained, what it means and how you can make it work in your favour!

This replay is almost an hour long but what you’ll learn will help you stay ahead of the pack on Facebook so it’s worth it, I promise. However, if you’d rather just read a summary I’ve provided you with that below!

Summary of Facebook Live Replay

  • Facebook’s goal for some years has been to help us find relevant content. This is shifting now to helping us to have more meaningful social interaction.
  • We can expect to see less public content on our newsfeed. Less posts from businesses, brands and media that fail to promote any engagement whatsoever. (I for one am happy about this change!)
  • Businesses and brands that focus on creating a sense of community on their pages have nothing to worry about. If you put a lot of effort into making sure your posts encourage meaningful interaction you should not be affected by these changes too much.
  • Remember that facebook organic reach for businesses has been decreasing for years. In 2011 you could expect an organic reach of 26% whereas now it’s more like 1%! No platform stays the same for long and we have to adapt and roll with it.
  • The photographers who need to be worried are the photographers who only use facebook to promote themselves. These types of posts just won’t get seen. Even if you pay to promote them it will be much more expensive. Why? Because facebook wants your paid posts to promote meaningful interaction too! And why not? Isn’t this the type of ad you’d rather see? One that actually interests and engages you?
  • Here’s the good news. This is a great opportunity to LEVEL UP your facebook marketing. There are not many photographers doing a good job of promoting community and interaction with their facebook posts. If you do this well, you will start to climb whilst your competitors disappear from local newsfeeds.
  • Facebook is looking out eagerly for those pages where followers come back again and again and again to interact. Pages where realtime conversations are commonplace and include the page owner!
  • Mark Zuckerberg says “We built Facebook to help people stay connected and bring us closer together with the people that matter to us.”  This means you have to MATTER to your followers. They have to like you, trust you and know you. You have to make sure your posts add to their day.
  • The announcement included a comment on live streaming. That there is more engagement around live video than other posts. Facebook still seem to be prioritising live video, particularly live video that encourages lots and lots of engagement.
  • Yes, live streaming is scary, but we need to get braver with our marketing and that means doing stuff that scares you. If you don’t jump into live and allow your followers to really get to know you and your business on a hugely deeper level then one of your competitors will.
  • It would seem that comments are going to hold more weight than ‘shares’. We need to be looking at our posts and asking ourselves, ‘would I comment on this?’, ‘is this worthy?’.
  • The days of posting to facebook in order to ‘get’ are gone. Every time you post ask yourself how you can ‘give’. How can you serve your followers in the best way possible? How can you get to know them and enrich their lives? When you give and give and give - the ‘getting’ takes care of itself!
  • Be careful with scheduling your posts. If you have to do it, do it within Facebook itself and make sure you are available to engage when it publishes. You need to care enough to be around for the conversation!
  • Boring businesses are going to have to spend a lot of money to be seen on facebook because even your promoted posts need to be interesting and engaging. Great promoted posts that encourage interaction will cost much less and perform much better . They will benefit from less competition on the newsfeed.
  • A facebook strategy is key. We must know what we are trying to achieve and what we want to give to our followers. We must be clear about the community we want to create on our page.
  • Facebook groups might be a good idea for some photographers. Groups are a naturally great place to build community and have meaningful interactions - everything that Facebook seems to want. For now. However, before starting a group make sure you know why you’re doing it and that you can give it the time. A great group requires a great admin. There are ideas for group in the recording above.
  • We simply can’t become reliant on a platform we don’t own or control. It doesn’t make sense. Make sure you get your website in awesome shape and start creating content and community there. Putting all your eggs in the social media basket is risky!
  • If you’re 100% focused on creating an amazing experience for your followers on facebook you could really flourish with these changes because your competitors who are not doing this are going to disappear. So the question is, are you?

I’d love to hear your thoughts on all of this! Let me know in the comments!

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