2024 Facebook Algorithm Update: What To Know

Last week, FB let us know what their New Year’s Resolutions was: transition their focus from helping users find relevant content, to helping users have more meaningful interactions.  Meaning – the News Feed will feature more posts from friends and family and less content from brand, media and business Pages.

Zuckerberg has made it clear that Facebook puts its users first, and advertisers second.  Before you freak out, consider this: if you’re actually doing social right, the new Facebook Algorithm could be beneficial for your brand.

While organic engagement on your posts may decrease, you can capitalize on the new Facebook algorithm. How? Create high-value content that encourages interaction between your followers.

This is an important point to clarify. Your content will need to inherently encourage inter-user engagement, not prompt engagement through gimmicky, engagement boosting CTA’s, (Facebook mentioned in a recent blog post they’d be cracking down on this).

With more space in the News Feed reserved for friends and less for Pages, only the most creative, social-savvy brands will remain relevant on Facebook.

How can you still stay in Facebook’s News Feed? Take a tactical approach to your content strategy with these tips:

optimizing content for the 2024 Facebook Algorithm update

  • Integrate your paid and organic strategies

Always ask yourself why each specific post matters.  Is it informative and relevant?  The content you’re distributing should always add value to a viewer’s life.  Whether or not your post is paid doesn’t matter – quality reigns superior over quantity.

  • Reach the right people at the right time with the right content

It’s important to know your audience and tailor your content accordingly. If you’re taking a broad approach trying to appeal to everyone, your generalist content won’t get organic distribution on Facebook. Keep your social media marketing engaging and relevant to your core demo, creating with their interests in mind.

  • Generate interactions

Create content that elicits meaningful interactions from users.  This doesn’t mean simply asking “yes or no” questions in hopes of getting users to comment.  Instead, spread ideas that spark conversations. Document moments worth sharing. Tell stories that provide a form of social currency. If it doesn’t somehow make Facebook’s user experience better, people won’t see it.

  • Quality over quantity

Gone are the days where posting once an hour to gave added organic visibility. Schedulers and posting for posting’s sake should soon be a thing of the past.

Instead, focus on premium quality content – even if that means posting less often. At the end of the day, meeting a predetermined post quota won’t matter if nobody sees the content you’re producing.

  • Experiment with Groups, Facebook Live, and Stories

According to Facebook, Live posts are on average, more engaging than any other type of content in the News Feed. It’s not just Facebook Live, Groups and Stories also provide more opportunity to generate interactions and rank higher in the feed.

Recently, Facebook introduced Groups for pages, and with the introduction of Stories for Pages, there’s still opportunity to garner plenty of organic visibility.

  • Measure and monitor the right stuff

Focus less on Page or Post Likes, and more on Post interactions and Reach.  Posts with strong interactions should be considered a win, even if they don’t receive as many Likes.  And, make sure to take note of brand mentions across all networks.  So, you can stay in-the-know of how often users are creating their own posts about your brand.

the end of Facebook marketing?

Is this the Facebook Apocalypse for Brands? It’s big, but not apocalyptic. When Mark Zuckerberg makes an announcement about updating the News Feed, people freak out. They freaked out when Instagram switched from chronological to an algorithm-based News Feed, and today, Instagram is as powerful a marketing tool as it ever has been.

Forward-thinking brands that adapt to the 2024 Facebook algorithm update will fair just fine. Without the noise of less creative competitors in the News Feed, savvy social marketers may even be better off than they were before the update.