Like it or not, the face of Facebook–it’s News Feed–is changing. That means a slew of new changes revolving around Facebook’s growing focus on the visual.
This change is one of the biggest that the Facebook’s News Feed has ever undergone. This new, visually-focused design is a direct result of the reality that, as Zuckerberg stated, about 50% of all News Feed content today consists of either photographs or some other form of visual content.
What does this mean for your social media marketing strategy?
It means your business needs to update your marketing strategy to fit in with the new News Feed. Here’s how:
1. Publish Content that’s Visual
Pictures have always been powerful motivators, but with the new News Feed they’re more important than ever. Images will now not only be more prevalent, but larger and clearer too. Facebook wants to immerse it’s users in the visual, so instead of promoting text-based posts, try uploading more rich, high-quality images or graphics designed to catch users’ eyes, boost engagement, and succeed in the feed.
2. Create more Image-Centric Ads
Facebook hasn’t mentioned any specific changes in their ad platform to match their News Feed updates, but the folks at Facebook have alluded to improving the whole Facebook experience (including ads) to make everything more striking, richer, and more visually stimulating . There’s also been discussion of including larger, more targeted advertising, so if you haven’t already, start working to combine persuasive images and powerful ad copy in order to build an advertising strategy that can keep up with the new feel of Facebook.
3. Keep Content Short and Sweet
In the new News Feed, captions will no longer be shown above or below images, they will overlay them. This means that any content you choose to include with your visuals should be important, concise, and to the point.
4. Find a Marriage between your Pinterest and Facebook Campaigns
Merging your marketing efforts on these two powerful platforms can be incredibly beneficial, especially now. Every single person who has a Pinterest account (well 98% of them anyway), also have a Facebook account. And by allowing your Pinterest activity gain visibility on your Facebook page, and more, you can stimulate more social media users in more engaging ways and drive traffic to your site and your products.