A look at how the 2019 Facebook Algorithm works and how to beat the odds

By: Angela Sharkey

Starting to see a drop in your social media engagement? You’re not the only one! While summertime has always been one of the slower seasons for social media platforms, marketers are also starting to assess the damage left behind by what we like to call “The 2019 Facebook Algorithm Update.”

We’d love to tell you that this is a quick cheat sheet on how to “beat” the system. Unfortunately, there’s no way around the alogrithm! The only way to rank higher and give your posts a better chance of appearing on your audiences’ timelines is by creating the type of relevant and engaging content Facebook now rewards. Before we give you the tips you need to develop your social media content strategy, here is a crash course on how the new Facebook algorithm works.

In the quest to show stories that are most relevant to users, Facebook now uses the categories below to rank content, which in return decides what posts will be more visible than others.

Inventory is where Facebook looks to find the content stock of all posts that are available to be displayed— friends and brands.

Signals are the pieces of information that Facebook can gather about your post. Who is publishing? What type of content is it? What is its purpose? All of this and more is taken into consideration in order to rank your content. Mental note: This is the only thing publishers are in control of!

Predictions represent user’s behaviors and their likelihood to react positively to your content.

Score is the ranking your content will receive based on the likelihood of obtaining a positive interaction on your content.

So now that you know all the ins and outs on how the new algorithm works, here’s where we come together to think of ways to defy it. To get your creative juices flowing, here are two things that should drive your focus in your content strategy

1. Create content that inspires your audience to engage with your posts
2. Drive your audience to create content that mentions your brand. In other words, user-generated content.

Spark emotions You know your audience better than anyone! What makes them tick? What makes them weep? But better yet—thinks of what makes them talk!

Video is still KING Video content still drives higher engagement than any other type of content. Need help producing? We might know a guy. (winkie face)

Engage, engage, ENGAGE Social media content is only as good as the community efforts to support it. Make sure that as part of your plan, you are allocating your resources to make the time to respond, engage, and spark the meaningful conversations that Facebook is looking for!

Fewer links, more conversations Yes, the bottom line is that you want to sell products or services. But your audience isn’t engaging with your brand based on a pitch, but on content to which they can relate.

Facebook groups Facebook announced a new feature that enables Pages to join and create new Groups. Since the reach of Facebook Groups content outranks brands’ Pages, starting a Facebook group where your audience can gather in one common interest isn’t a bad idea—considering you can sneak into the conversations here and there.

Gain momentum Putting ad spend on posts that are performing well organically is the perfect way to create a snowball effect of your content’s positive rankings!

While there’s no way to hack the new Facebook algorithm, a shift in content strategy may be exactly what you need to help your brand rank higher and gain more visibility with your audience. Focusing on meaningful, engaging content that sparks conversations is the only way you can stay afloat in this new Facebook era. That is, until a new algorithm arrives…