Friday Facts: The Hard Truth About How The Facebook News Feed Works Now

Once again, another article I'm linking to offsite that provides a lot of information about changes Facebook made in December 2013. If you're like me, you noticed the number of people viewing your posts drastically dropped after December, no matter how big or small your Facebook Page was.

Few people understand how the new algorithms work, and this article doesn't totally explain them either - but it does provide proof that Facebook wants you to spend money to market your brand, large or small.

Just to quote a small section of the article:

• Facebook's guiding principle is that the News Feed should be full of stuff Facebook users want to see.
• Facebook has changed its mind about brands. It has decided that users do not really want to see a News Feed full of updates from brands – Tide, Dove, Pampers, Nyquil, etc. 

Not sure about anyone else, but if I like a page or are friends with someone I -WANT- to see what they're posting, not have Facebook decide what my feed should be full of or not full of.  And you may have also noticed that you see far less from friends who you know post regularly and your feed is now a few select people instead of everyone you know.

If you're interested in learning more, I strongly suggest you read more here: http://www.businessinsider.com/how-the-facebook-news-feed-works-2014-2#ixzz2tJKpHMGP

Thursday Tutorials: How to Change From Using Facebook as Your Page to Your Profile

This tutorial is a fairly easy one, but it's something that you have to remember to do each time you post as your page and to use it to switch back to your page before you post or you'll be deleting posts you make as yourself instead of your page.

I'll be using my Social Media Marketing: Hints and Tips Page for the screenshots.

First, click on your page as if you were going to read notifications, create a post or do something else with your page.

At the very top of the screen you will see an area in the middle that says "You are posting as: NAME OF PAGE HERE - Change to Your Name Here", as seen below.

The part that says "Change to Your Name" is a hot link.  Click on it.

The page should change to something similar to the screenshot below (just with your appropriate page name and your name there).

It's that simple.

Now you can scroll down and like posts you have made on your page as yourself.  Or comment on it as yourself, or share it to your wall easier as yourself!

Note:  You have to go to your page and change it because even if you see your pages walls on your wall and you click like, it will like the post as your page name, not yours.

Sharing, commenting and liking as yourself increases engagement on your page.  Not to mention some of your friends who many not have liked your page yet may see the post and like the page or post.

To change back to posting as your page, just click on the Change to Page NAME area and it will switch back.  Easy peasy.

Encourage your page admins and managers to do the same thing.  The more individual engagement and likes, the better!

Thursday Tutorials are a series of tutorials designed to help people who may not be as Facebook savvy as other people.  Some tutorials will be targeted towards newbies to the social media world, others will include tutorials for more advanced users.  Thursday Tutorials are written for the layman and are designed with everyone in mind.  You can find all the Thursday Tutorials by clicking on the Thursday Tutorials tag below.

Wednesday Words: People Talking About This (PTAT)

Once your Facebook page exceeds a certain number of users - I believe it's 25 or 30 - and you aren't listed as a Community Page, you get to see and make use of Page Insights.  One of the statistics you will see most often is "People Talking About This" which is today's word.

You can find the "Talking About This" statistic under the name of your page - once you are past the admin area - to the right of your page avatar.  See screenshot below with the # Talking About This circled in red.

So, for this page I maintain and am sole poster of content to, I have 137 likes and 4 people talking about my page.

But what does that mean exactly?

This statistic shows the number of people actively engaging on your page by commenting, sharing, liking, etc.  It also includes people who comment on things shared from your page's wall to other walls (because they are talking about it).  It also includes people who share your page in general and encourage people to like it.

It's a good number to pay attention to if looking at the insights page becomes overwhelming.  Knowing that people are talking about your page is always a good thing.

Remember the adage: Any publicity is good publicity.

Are there any words you hear in relation to social media that you want more information about?  Or questions you have about any of the words, tips or tutorials I post?  I want to hear from you.  I'd love to be able to expand on things or answer your questions in upcoming blog posts.

Wednesday Words are a series of definitions released on Wednesday each week regarding a word found specific to Facebook's social media platform, or may be a generic word dealing with social media.  These definitions are to help provide you with a better understanding of common and uncommon terms associated with Facebook and social media.   You can find all the Wednesday Words by clicking on the Wednesday Words tag below.

Tuesday Tips: Like Content As Yourself

This might seem like a no-brainer, but it's really something I've tried to explain to owners of pages that I have helped create or maintain and it falls on deaf ears.  The advice: Like your page's content as yourself.

There is a valid reason for this and it's not just to be narcissistic.  Previously we talked about engagement and how user engagement raises the number of people who see your page's content as well as raising the rank of where your content will appear in their news feed.  Each like you give to your content - or even just liking your own page - is an important step in allowing your friends and fan page followers to see your content.

"No one wants to see the owner/admins liking their own stuff."

I've actually had a page admin tell me that before.  So let me get this right - you aren't proud enough of your page to like your own stuff?  Or perhaps you just don't want to be embarrassed that you liked your own content.  It's something you have to get over and past if you want your page to grow.  More and more people are understanding why everyone likes and share their own page's contents - even if their friends like the page.  It helps increase visibility.

"I'll let my other admin do it."

Strange how this thought seems prevalent, yet then the admin are confused when no other admin likes content.  Most admin think the other admin will do it, then it doesn't happen.  Get out of that mindset.  Like your own content and the content of other admins.

"I don't know how to change from my page to my account."

Well, if that's the case, you're in luck.  We'll be covering that this Thursday! And don't worry, it's really easy to do.

Tuesday Tips are a series of tips released on Tuesday each week regarding a hint or tip to help you manage and market your Facebook presence better.  You can find all the Tuesday Tips by clicking on the Tuesday Tips tag below.