Post less often and make each post worth answering, reply to every comment, use events and groups where they fit, pay a small amount to promote what matters, and bring people over to the website and email list.

The Monday after

Last week Facebook said the News Feed would start favouring what people's friends, family and groups post, and showing less from business pages. Most pages should expect each post to reach fewer people.

That leaves a practical question for any business that has relied on its page: what should it do differently, starting now?

The answer is not to abandon the page, and not to post twice as much. It is a handful of changes, most of them small, that suit the way the feed now works.

The response in brief

The last is the one that protects the business from the next change. Everything else on the list makes the page work better; that one makes the business depend on it less.

Fewer, better posts

A page posting every day, mostly photographs nobody comments on, is now working against itself. Posts nobody reacts to are what the feed will show least.

Two or three posts a week, each with a reason to respond, suit the new feed better than seven that people scroll past.

A useful test before posting: would a customer mention this to a friend? A question about their own preferences, a piece of local news, a problem many customers share.

Hours, holiday closures and prices belong in the page's About section and on the website, where people look for them, rather than in posts.

Replying properly

Comments now carry more weight than likes. A comment with a reply is a conversation, and conversations are what Facebook has said it will favour.

So reply to every comment, the same day if possible, and in more than one word. A reply that asks something back keeps the conversation going.

The same goes for messages. Facebook shows visitors how quickly a page usually responds, and a slow answer to a customer's question loses the customer, whatever the feed does.

Events and groups

For anything with a date, an event usually works better than a post. People can say they are going, their friends may see that, and Facebook reminds them as the day approaches.

Workshops, open houses, tastings, launches and classes each deserve their own event, with a clear time, place, price and booking link.

Groups suit businesses whose customers share an interest beyond the purchase: a climbing gym's members, a fabric shop's quilters, the parents at a swimming school.

With someone keeping the conversation going, a group can become the liveliest part of a business's Facebook presence. Started for the sake of it, a group stays empty.

A small budget for what matters

Paid posts go through Facebook's advertising system, which last week's announcement did not mention.

That does not mean boosting everything. Pick the few posts each month that matter to the business, such as a workshop with places to fill or a spring promotion.

Then pay a modest amount to show them to people nearby who are likely to care. Set the area, the audience and an end date; a boost left on default settings can spend money on people who will never visit.

Spending a little, carefully, on a few posts is a better habit to build now than spending a lot later in a panic.

A worked example

A nail salon that also runs nail art classes on Sunday evenings had been posting every day: finished sets, new polish colours, seasonal designs. The posts were attractive, and almost nobody commented.

After the announcement, the salon changed its routine. Three posts a week, each asking clients something they have views on, such as which of two spring colours to stock or which design to teach next.

Every class now goes up as an event, with the date, price and booking link, and a small amount is spent promoting each one to people nearby in the week it is announced.

Past class members have a group of their own for sharing their practice designs and asking for tips, which they had been doing in a long chain of messages anyway.

And every class post links to the salon's website, where the sign-up form for the monthly newsletter sits beside the online booking page.

Moving the relationship home

Facebook decides who sees a page's posts, and it has just shown the decision can change in a day. The website and the email list are the two channels the business controls itself.

Use the page to send people there. The page's button can link to a booking or sign-up page, and posts about anything substantial can link to the full details on the website.

Then give people a reason to join the email list that Facebook cannot match: first notice of new classes, an early booking window, something only subscribers get.

Measuring what matters

Page Insights will show reach falling. That is expected, and on its own it says little.

Watch instead what the page produces for the business: messages asking about prices or availability, event responses, clicks through to the website, sign-ups to the email list.

A page that reaches fewer people but produces the same bookings has lost very little.

The counter-case

Some businesses will find the page matters less than they thought.

A trade whose work comes from search and referrals, and whose page is mainly a listing, can keep it accurate, answer messages and reviews, and post occasionally. That is a smaller job, not no job.

And a business whose customers genuinely talk to each other on Facebook about what it sells may find the change works in its favour, provided it posts things people want to discuss.

Either way the response is the same: fewer, better posts, real replies, and a clear route to the website.

Starting this week

  1. Cut posting to two or three a week.
  2. Write each post to invite a real answer.
  3. Reply to every comment the same day.
  4. Turn dated activities into events.
  5. Set a small monthly budget for promoted posts.
  6. Point the page's button at your website.
  7. Offer something for joining the email list.

Step three costs nothing and does the most immediate good. A comment answered becomes a conversation, which is what the feed now favours, and a customer whose question gets a proper answer is worth more than any post.

What Facebook announced, and why, is covered in Facebook is changing what shows in the News Feed.

Frequently asked questions

Should I post more after the change?

No. Posts nobody reacts to are what the feed will show least. Two or three posts a week, each worth answering, suit it better than daily posting.

Why does replying to comments matter now?

Because a comment with a reply is a conversation, which Facebook says the feed will favour, and because a customer who asked something deserves an answer.

Are Facebook events worth using?

Yes, for anything with a date. People can say they are going, friends may see it, and Facebook reminds them as the day approaches.

Should my business start a group?

Only if customers share an interest beyond the purchase and someone will keep the conversation going. A group started just to get around the change stays empty.

Is boosting posts worth it now?

For a few posts each month that matter, such as a workshop with places to fill, with a set area, audience and end date. Not for everything.

How should I measure the page now?

By what it produces: messages, event responses, clicks to the website and email sign-ups. Reach will fall, and on its own that says little.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

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