When Facebook was first released in 2004, it was exclusive to college students to keep in touch with each other. Since then, what was once a small, almost internal program has grown into the huge business generating then expansive social platform we know it as today, and we are now seeing it become less personal than it was 10 years ago. On the 12th of January 2018, Mark Zuckerberg announced that he is planning a series of changes to the way the public views their Facebook News Feed. Some of these changes mean you’ll be seeing more trustworthy news articles about Trump’s reign over the United States, Aunt Judy’s 20 cats, and your super ocker cousin’s adventures through the outback in his 4WD. However, what does this mean for your Facebook business page? As a business, you’ve been honing your social media posts to reach out to your target audience and give them details about your product or services. How will your organic Facebook posts reach your target audience now?Zuckerberg now wants you to, “create meaningful interactions between people.” It’s time to change your strategy to ensure that you’re provoking your audience and followers to comment, like, and share your post. Whether that’s by asking them questions, posting content that you know your audience will enjoy viewing, or curating your Page to look authentic, which means no more engagement baiting!What is engagement baiting?Engagement baiting is a tactic that encourages people to engage with your content by telling them to take action. For example, writing, “Comment YES if you love puppies,” or “Tag a friend you would go to a cat cafe with.” Facebook no longer sees this as genuine engagement and as a result, your posts will be demoted in the News Feed.To businesses utilising Facebook advertising, no need to fret. As of right now, the new algorithm won’t be affecting boosted posts or any form of Facebook advertising, and they will continue to thrive as scheduled. This is because they run on an entirely different algorithm than the organic posts, and there has been no word that they will be affected. They may even stand out more against a cleaner and less cluttered News Feed. The future of Facebook in 2018 and beyondIn 2018, we expect to see huge growth in video content creation, Facebook Live sessions, and Facebook Messenger being used to keep have two-way conversations as well as another platform for advertising opportunities. If you’re worried about not being able to keep up with this new change, the team at Bang Digital will be here to help you. We stay ahead of the curve and on top of all changes and updates to digital marketing, and now so can your business. Contact us today for a chat!