Print Friendly, PDF & Email

The 2018 changes to Facebook are changing what works and what does not work for authors. Listen to this episode to learn how to make Facebook work for you.

How Facebook’s News Feed Works:

  • In the early days, everyone saw everything.
  • If you have 500 friends that each post one thing and 100 brand pages that each share 5 things that is 750 pieces of content. Most people have more than 500 friends and they post more than once a day. The result is thousands of content pieces. That is more than you can physically go through.
  • Algorithm prioritizes the content so that you see the things that would be most interesting to you.

The Facebook Algorithm Looks At:

  • User Preference (See First, Close Friend)
  • Recentsy
  • Social Proximity
  • Content Type
  • Likes / Reactions
  • Comments
  • Shares
  • Promotion

What Has Changed in the Last Year:

  • Faster Loading Webpages to Get Priority in News Feed GT Metrics
    1. Google penalizes as well for slower loading pages
  • Engagement Bait” Posts Demoted in News Feed
    1. Who is going to win the Super Bowl
  • News Feed to Weigh “Reactions” More Than “Likes”
  • Video Prioritized in News Feed Based on Completion Rate
    1. Did they FINISH watching your video?

What is Changing The Most Recently:

  • Posts from “human pages” aka friends and family will get more priority.
    • This means your BRAND page gets less attention. So if you post on your profile, you’ll get more punch than on your page.
  • Blog Posts and News Stories Shared By Brand Pages are getting less priority.
  • Comments are now more important than likes and reactions.
    • Meaningful comments
    • Long comments
  • A Lot of People Are Saying Facebook is Bad for Society
    • Trying to encourage uplifting interactions

What this Means for Authors

  • More important than ever to earn comments. But don’t bait them! Ask questions. Be a place come for discussions. Even as simple as asking, “What do you think?”
  • Pre-recorded Videos are now de-prioritized
  • Live videos are getting even more juice. So now is a good time to experiment with Live Videos.
  • Ask your followers to mark you as “See First”
  • Groups still work well, especially if they have good engagement.
    • Fan group, a place to talk to each other, you’re the party host, but not the entire focus of the group.
  • Ads are going to get more expensive.

It is all a matter of supply and demand. Brand pages will have to spend more to reach the same number of people. Also Zuckerburg is predicting that use of Facebook is going to go down which means the overall number of pageviews will decrease. Supply is going down. When supply falls and demand rises prices soar.

Books are by definition low ticket items. I predict that it will be harder to make Facebook ads work in the future.  

Bottom Line

As a savvy author, you should not build your house on Facebook’s shifting sands. Your email list, your website, and your Amazon page are far more important to selling books than your Facebook presence.  

Sponsor:

2018 Tax & Business Course for Authors

Many of you may not know this but Thomas graduated Cum Laude with a Business degree. He started his first company while in college and he has started many businesses since then. He also consults with companies who are wanting to reduce costs and increase revenue. You could say he knows a thing or two about business. In this course, he sits down with his father Tom Umstattd CPA and they talk about how the Trump Tax Plan affects authors. Thomas also talks about business principles you can use to make more money this year.

Video Versions

Here is a copy of the YouTube video we mentioned.

And here is a copy of the Facebook Live video:

Liked it? Take a second to support Thomas Umstattd Jr. on Patreon!
Become a patron at Patreon!

Want more help?

Get a weekly email with tips on building a platform, selling more books, and changing the world with writing worth talking about. 

You have Successfully Subscribed!