Outside of the people who will complain about the look and feel of facebook changing (just when they got used to that "horrible" cover photo, starting a change.org petition to bring the old facebook back, etc.), what will it mean for businesses?
| Photo Courtesy of zoomers.ca |
The biggest shift will come in the emphasis on imagery. Images have an 80% higher engagement rate than text when it comes to social meadia - which shouldn't surprise anyone. How long have we used the phrase "a picture is worth a thousand words?"
Those images - with branding, words and meaning - are easily digested, shared with a click of a button and travel further. Those images should be a big part of your overall content strategy.
Another change is the "Follow Feed" which you already have, but don't notice. It's nestled in the right hand navigation, among many other buttons. The new Follow Feed will be a little more prominent, but we have yet to see how effective it is. The Follow Feed allows you to see a news feed of all the pages you follow in one place. Given that the general rule of Inbound Marketing is that people do not want to feel as if they are being advertised to, it's probably a bone FB is throwing to the vociferous many, who bitterly complain about EdgeRank.
Ah, EdgeRank. It's still important. Just as important. And as imagery continues to climb in importance (that's why Instagram and Pinterest are so popular) it is vital that your strategy involves dialogue, on and off the grid.
Todays takeaway: invest time and resources in generating brand-centric, image rich content across the channels that are your most effective route to market.
