Facebook recently announced a series of changes to its platform, and the roadmap has a substantial impact on how brands approach building a Facebook presence. While changes to Facebook’s platform are nothing new, this is the first time the company has announced a series of 19 changes that will be implemented over the coming months.
Be sure to understand the implications of these changes before pitching your next Facebook project.
1. Email is now a supported channel
Facebook has long hidden user emails, but soon Facebook will provide developers access to a user’s verified email address. For brands that are serious about engaging in an ongoing dialogue with their fans, email becomes a powerful communication method. Email will allow brands to better reconnect with users who have interacted with them on Facebook. This becomes important given that…
2. Status updates are no longer guaranteed
Previously users’ streams included everything their friends and pages (including brand pages) published. Now the news feed has returned to a default view showing select highlights that Facebook’s algorithm thinks are most relevant to the user, which may or may not contain your brand’s message. There’s still a live feed view, but it’s no longer default, so only brand posts that fans interact with will appear in most users’ streams.
3. Other communication channels are consolidating
Many brands rely on application-to-user and user-to-user notifications to reconnect with users, and this communication channel is disappearing. That means in order to remarket to users to let them know about new product launches, sales, events, or promotions, you’ll need to acquire users’ email addresses or send popular posts (per above).
Source: iMedia Connection. Click here for full post.