The Latest Facebook Changes and What They Mean for Business Marketers

Insomuch as the internet has revolutionized the way people communicate and gather information, Facebook has revolutionized the way we share that information – and the other people who see it. Although it wasn’t the first social

network, the virtual baby Mark Zuckerberg spawned hit all the right marks, overcoming common complaints that plagued prior social networking platforms like MySpace to become the premiere social media outlet.

When your mom and your grandma are blowing up your Facebook page with your baby photos, you know it’s a bona fide cultural phenomenon. And it wasn’t long before businesses large and small saw Facebook’s inherent potential for lead generation and content marketing through the platform’s ability to reach consumers, generate a following, promote products and services, form online communities, and increase traffic and sales as a result.

Rather than taking a static approach to their business model, Facebook has not suffered the same fate as competitors like MySpace mainly because the company has made a habit of changing the game repeatedly. No matter how good Facebook might be at any given time, it seems that this social network is always a work in progress.

This is unfortunate for businesses looking to create a solid marketing strategy related to the social media landscape. It seems that as soon as you get a plan in the works, the rules change. And after the FTC agreement Facebook was forced into regarding privacy policies, the company has had another major shakeup as it seeks new avenues of earning within the confines of recent restrictions.

So what does it all mean for business marketers looking to capitalize on the outreach potential inherent to more than a billion Facebook users? Here are some of the latest changes and how they could affect your marketing plan.

Privacy Opt-outs

The changes to privacy settings are a direct result of the FTC ruling Facebook agreed to. And while it’s pretty clear how users are affected, you may not immediately see how these changes will affect your business marketing strategy.

It is unclear how the periodic prompts for users to review their privacy settings (via the privacy checkup tool) will impact the number of users opting for greater privacy, but they will certainly have more options when it comes to controlling their privacy, including the opportunity to opt-out of receiving certain ads by providing feedback.

The result, as likely intended by Facebook, is that users will feel good about getting more privacy options while businesses will lose opportunities to share. Furthermore, Facebook will require businesses to pay more to “boost” their advertising. And it doesn’t look to get any better.

With a “page” instead of a “profile,” there’s little you can do to be seen outside of paying for visibility. Even if you have interest from followers, your efforts may not be seen if you’re unwilling to pay for advertising. If you can’t afford to pay for the boost, the best solution may be to look into other social networking options that offer you more opportunities – like Twitter and Google+.

Auto Settings for New Users

Along with the increase in privacy options has come a change in the default settings for new members. Whereas new accounts were automatically created as public in the past (if users failed to select other settings during initial profile creation), Facebook will now default to a “friends” rather than a “public” setting for new accounts.

This is good news for users concerned about having their drunken spring break photos spotted by mom or a supervisor at work. However, it’s not so great for businesses looking to engage in digital marketing. If it was difficult to generate leads on Facebook before, it is likely to get even harder now. With more profiles hidden, targeting potential customers in your preferred demographic could become much more challenging.

Anonymous Login

This option could herald a major change in the information businesses receive through logins. The ubiquitous Facebook login present on myriad websites used to be a boon for businesses since they were able to collect account information every time users logged in to affiliated websites or apps via the button.

But the social network has announced that they will now allow for an anonymous login via these buttons, effectively hiding user information from the third-party apps and websites they are logging into. Consequently, this will deny businesses the opportunity to track information that was previously available to them. The solution? Create your own login page for SEO and metrics purposes.

Page Changes

As everyone is aware, there is a difference between user profiles and business pages. And Facebook announced earlier this year that new algorithms would give profile posts priority over page posts on newsfeeds.

Luckily, this doesn’t mean that business posts won’t be seen by followers, but you’re going to have to work harder to compete against the increased status of posts from friends. And you can most easily do this by steering clear of text-only messages and adding value through links to content.

You’ll probably want to start an on-site blog or a YouTube channel in order to achieve the same level of attention on the newsfeed that you previously got with text posts. But by creating content elsewhere, you can kill two birds with one stone, drawing traffic to your website or other social media outlets, as well as boosting your posts on Facebook.

If you’re looking for options for inbound marketing or you’re interested in sales and marketing automation, this change may actually work in your favor

Ad Choices

Perhaps one of the biggest changes to affect businesses using social media for lead generation or internet marketing purposes is Facebook’s decision to start pulling information from other websites to inform their advertising choices for users.

Businesses have been using Facebook for this very purpose for years, and this is true even though user concerns about privacy related to Facebook’s policy of distributing marketing information to the highest bidder were what led to FTC hearings in the first place. And now Facebook seems to be taking a page from their competitors’ playbooks.

For businesses, this could be positive or negative. On the one hand, reinforced interest from users liking your brand outside of Facebook could lead to greater advertising opportunities. The other side of the coin is that Facebook could leverage this information to increase the cost of outsourced marketing via its network for companies that aren’t as popular.

I’m sure this isn’t the end of the changes. As mentioned, Facebook keeps the changes coming. And I now recommend dipping your toes in with advertising on Facebook, even for my B2B clients. But, as a marketer, always do so with your eyes wide open — and measure the results.

Image: PhotoSpin

The Latest Facebook Changes and What They Mean for Business Marketers