How Facebook's Changes Will Effect Your Sales

We knew it was coming. Mark Zuckerberg hasn’t exactly been quiet about the changes he had planned for Facebook, yet it’s still coming as a surprise to a lot of people. So, in this post, I’m going to give you the rundown. Plus, tips on how to avoid losing sales.

So the long version, and what these changes will mean for you and your business is less reach. With the new changes, you’re going to be seeing less activity on your pages, pages where you’ve been encouraging your followers to follow you. Counterproductive, am I right? I know the pain of getting those numbers up, of making useful and interactive posts to keep followers coming back only to realize all that hard work may have been for nothing, especially on the heels of so many changes already. Oh, and did I mention this will also effect your Instagram?! 😡 Come on!!

Social media is hard enough without these head games.

like, just when you think that maybe, just maybe you finally have a hold on things … BOOM! Change. I just can’t even.

Deep, calming breaths, Airicka. Deep, calming breaths.

Michael Stelzner from Social Media Examiner has been good enough to break down Mark and Facebook’s announcements and what it will mean for businesses. The video, which you can watch here, is very clear and the explanation thorough, so if you haven’t, have a peek.

The lovely Samantha English, whose newsletter I follow religiously, sent out an email a couple of days ago covering this issue. She’s also hosting a free webinar for those interested in learning more, which everyone should be. #KnowledgeIsPower

“We started making changes last year,” Zuckerberg said in his Facebook announcement. “The first changes you’ll see will be in the News Feed, where you can expect to see more from your friends, family.”

This new format will drastically change how – and where – your potential customers see posts from your business. In fact, during testing business pages saw four times fewer interactions with followers and two-thirds less reach with the new format. — Samantha English

The bottom line is that your followers will see less of your material, especially if Facebook considers them “promotional”, meaning if they think you’re selling something, they will push your page into the Facebook boonies where no one will see you and that’s a problem if you’re using Facebook to make sales. There’s also talk that Facebook doesn’t like it when you schedule your posts using outside sites like Buffer or Hootsuit, but you can still use (from what I understand) Facebook’s built in scheduler. So, yay!

I know there’s different ways to bypass some of these changes, like getting people to comment rather than just like your posts. Interaction is key, as Michael Stelzner states in his video. Another method is to pay to boost your posts, or buy ads. There’s lots of indecision on both accounts. People love or hate it. It works for some, and doesn’t for others. It’s one of those try for yourself, play around with different times, tags, image, etc, until you see results. This can become quite costly quickly if you’re not careful, but it’s something to try.

I’ve spoken to several concerned authors who only use Facebook as their platform. I can’t imagine how terrifying these changes must be for them, but it’s also a perfect example as to why it’s so important to be present on more than one social media sitr. Never, ever put all your eggs in one basket (literally and figuratively). Never mind something like this happening, leaving you … scrambling (see what I did there?? 😋), but not all your potential followers have Facebook/Twitter/Instagram, etc. Don’t alienate them. Be present everywhere!!

But, Airicka, you said there were changes to Instagram, too!

I did and there are. Goodreads, as well. 😞 But those are topics I’ll be covering in the following #TuesdayTips. You can avoid missing it by returning to AirickaPhoenix.com every Tuesday, or you can follow me on Twitter at @airickaphoenix.

I think that’s it for this post. Did I miss anything you’d like to add? Do you have questions? Drop them in the comments below. I really do read and respond to them all.

Until next Tuesday, you can read my Phoenix Collective where I talk about my week, random thoughts, book updates, sales, giveaways, and share cute videos. But until we meet again…