As we rang in the New Year; I noticed that some of the Facebook pages I manage were having such a hard time getting our analytics up.

Near the end of February, I started researching the Facebook Algorithm. I decided that I wanted to understand why these pages were struggling. Overall our content wasn’t anything new, different, or out of the ordinary – so why weren’t our posts getting the same attention?

In early 2018 Facebook made some big changes to the News Feed Algorithm. These changes started with the main focus of your news feed. Facebook went about reinstating a person-to-person connection mindset. Within this new mindset, they moved content from pages further down your feed.

These changes are super great unless you are thriving off organic reach. If you, like me, are in this group, you could potentially get screwed. However, we have no reason to fear because mastering the algorithm is much easier than you think!

Facebook is looking to see a few specific things happening with your posts before they give it a higher place in the news feed. They are looking for reactions, shares, and comments (lots of comments!).

Unfortunately, what Facebook is defining as “reactions” isn’t as simple as a “like.” The algorithm is looking for any of the other little buttons that pop up when you hover over the like button. A simple like is no longer enough; they require you show real interest by reacting to the post.

Any post that has public or private shares is going to find a higher place on the feed. Facebook is passionate about creating conversations. When people share content, they are often engaged in the conversation that follows. If your content is worth sharing, congratulations, you have just won the Facebook game!

Lastly, because Facebook now values engagement like never before; posts with a large discussion in the comments will surface multiple times.

So many of you may be asking what this means for you as marketers, well, you have now been tasked with creating discussion. Sadly, we live in the 21st century and adding a simple “drop a comment below” or a “share this post” line won’t get you noticed. The algorithm is now smart enough to sort through attention-grabbing posts and true content.

Facebook is now calling marketers to become influencers. For page-to-person content to thrive, you have to find a way to spark conversation.

After all, it’s 2018 and Facebook is the one that has forcefully flexed our creative muscles. We are left with two options, rise to the challenge or abdicate the power of social media. Which do you choose?