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For many people who manage Facebook business pages, Facebook algorithm changes can equal frustration. On Wednesday, June 29, 2016 Facebook posted the article ‘Building a Better News Feed for You.’ The article stated that Facebook would be making changes to their news feed algorithm so that users will see more posts from their friends and family. This means that the posts from friends and family will be toward the top of the News Feed. For businesses that have Pages, this means that reach and referral traffic will probably decline, although Facebook specifies that the impact on Pages may vary depending upon who the business’ audience is and what type of posts are being shared. If a lot of your referral traffic is the result of people sharing your content and their friends liking and commenting on it, there will be less of an impact than if most of your traffic comes directly through Page posts. So, basically, you will want to make sure you’re posting things that your audience is very likely to share with their friends.

Obviously if you’re offering porterhouse steak at a price that is too good to pass up, by all means get that message out there, and sharing your weekly ads is something your followers probably look forward to reading. But also post unique and fun posts that entertain, as well as informational posts; it’s these types of posts that will increase sharing, which will help with reach and referral traffic.

One great example of a Facebook post that added in an element of fun (which always appeals to individual users) is the above Star Wars-reference post that Richter’s Marketplace-Burlington shared with their followers on Star Wars Day (May the 4th). Susan Richter-Huber’s father posted this photo of a Stormtrooper toy figure shopping the aisles of Richter’s Marketplace on his timeline because he is a big Star Wars fan. Susan reposted the photo to Richter’s Marketplace to share with other Star Wars fans. This post is far from the ordinary grocery store post, offers a fun visual, and cost very little to create.

Image: Tasty’s Mac ‘n’ Cheese Breadsticks

If you love easy, somewhat genius recipes that come together in a snap, you are probably already familiar with @buzzfeedtasty. This Mac ‘n’ Cheese Breadsticks recipe has more than 22M Views and was made with frozen mac ‘n’ cheese and refrigerated pizza crust. It’s a crazy-easy recipe, and the video simply reinforces that, in a fun way. And busy moms love easy! @buzzfeedtasty is only one-year-old, and almost everyone who loves food knows about their snack-sized how-to food videos. Another fun way to showcase food and recipes is with stop-motion videos. With so much technology in the world today, you are not as limited as you may think when it comes to creating videos with mass appeal.

Starbucks continually hits the mark on so many levels when it comes to their posts. One thing they’re great at is keeping their customers informed of happenings so that nobody is surprised by inconveniences. They clearly cannot inform every single person, but the efforts they make do not go unnoticed.

And what about Pokémon GO?

Talk about a viral sensation! From parks to zoos to businesses, Pokémon are everywhere and can be used as a great marketing tool to get people to your store. Did you read our article How-To Capitalize on the Pokémon GO Craze? We share some great examples of the kinds of deals you can post on social media to bring Pokémon Trainers to your store.

As you can see by the examples above, and especially with the photos that went along with the content, these are eye-catching and interesting or informative posts.

The bottom line is… Based on Facebook’s algorithm update and News Feed Values document, family and friends will come first, followed by providing information and news stories, and providing entertainment like Facebook Live videos and funny photos.

Just because Facebook can ultimately decide who sees what in your Facebook News Feed, that does not mean that you should give up hope of a successful business page. If you continue to add sharable posts to your timeline, your reach and referral traffic will benefit. MSC’s Social Octane frees up your time while helping you to keep your timeline active. We create the copy and include the images, and you access the posts to edit (if desired) and schedule via our easy management platform.

We create informational posts, engaging posts, high quality images for Facebook, and more. As fun and as simple as Facebook is or may seem, it can become time consuming when it comes to keeping your business page consistently populated.

We can even create custom images for your Facebook posts.

Do you have any great Facebook posting ideas you would like to share? Add as a Comment! We’d love to hear about your social media successes and share the creative love.