Changes in Facebook EdgeRank algorithm may see brands reassess their social strategy

The change may result in brands paying a higher premium to share content relevant to users, relying on the actions users take, such as 'like', 'comment' and 'share', to increase reach.

Alternatively, they might use paid promotions, such as ‘Promoted Posts’ and ‘Sponsored Stories’, when posts on brand pages aren’t offering the desired reach and interaction.

Yean Cheong, head of digital, APAC at Mediabrands, said it means brands need to become aware of what content resonates with their audiences as soon as possible. “Knowing what type of content and when to post to gain the most traction is more important now than ever."

“Brands need to do a deep dive into their content and start focusing heavily on creating full-fledged stories and content that not only tells the brand story, but feeds the needs of their community.”

She noted that it is a great time to look at post timing and cadence in order to maximize the potential each time a brand is posting. “Paired together, content effectiveness and timing are going to be the building blocks for continued brand success on Facebook,” she said.

Ernest Kim, regional director of planning at XM Asia-Pacific, pointed out that brands need to develop content that engages users outside of the brand's current population of engaged fans.

"Not coincidentally, Facebook recently introduced a feature called 'Page Post Targeting Enhanced' that facilitates just this approach," he added. "It gives page administrators 'the ability to publish their page posts to specific groups of fans in the news feed', based on a much richer set of targeting parameters than was previously available."

Industry players, in general, said the move is a message Facebook is sending to brands that the social media platform is not a free broadcast channel, and that this may force brands to look into their social ad platforms seriously.

The function of EdgeRank algorithm is to solve the problem of relevancy to avoid Facebook from repeating the mistake Friendster and MySpace made – decreased utility as their audiences increased – and remained relevant to its users even as its audience boomed.

“Keeping Facebook relevant to its users remains the fundamental raison d'être of the EdgeRank algorithm,” Kim said. “Zuckerberg and company recognise that their users are their most precious asset, and EdgeRank is central to keeping those users engaged with Facebook as both the platform and the volume of content generated within it expand.”

While the engagement rates should see little impact following the changes in EdgeRank algorithm, the general perception is that brand pages are likely to see a drop of 50 per cent in organic reach.

In his blog, global managing director at We Are Social Robin Grant said the reduced organic reach means it is essential for brands to boost the reach of their posts with Facebook media spend, but sponsoring posts that are not engaging is a waste of money.

“Facebook’s changes mean brands need to shift to creating social content that is ‘as engaging as the posts you see from friends and family’ and supplement this with a sophisticated paid promotion strategy,” he noted.

XM Asia-Pacific’s Kim noted that the changes are ultimately for the better. “From a user's perspective, it reduces the noise in the News Feed, which consequently forces marketers to publish content that's of actual interest to their audiences, resulting in increased engagement. In a nutshell, it improves the overall quality of the Facebook experience, which is a boon for users and marketers alike.”

Coupled with the earlier ad-related initiatives announced, Mediabrands’ Cheong said brands can tie their existing marketing and sales practices more closely to advertising on Facebook, by combining data and allowing for actual sales numbers to be attributed to users in the Facebook community.

Facebook previously announced its initiative to remove fake likes on brand pages as well as the launch of a function to allow brands to target customers on Facebook based on information the brands have already collected for CRM purposes.