Facebook Takes One Giant Leap for Content

Up until recently, things were getting a little weird on the Facebook News Feed. Where else could you find cutting-edge industry stories mixed in with cat memes from your aunt? The News Feed was failing to deliver relevant information, and it was frustrating both businesses and end users.

In response, the company has made some recent changes that are sure to clean up the News Feed and keep users on the site. In December, as the company celebrated its 10^th birthday, it rolled out a new application designed to streamline the news delivery system. The update is called Paper, and it allows users to browse Facebook on their own terms by categorizing content according to subject matter. Now there are about 20 total categories that users can receive content in including Sports, Tech and Headlines. Users can individually customize their news options and get exactly what they want out of the Facebook experience.

As a content marketer, you should be ecstatic about this update as it means that it just got a whole lot easier for people to read your posts. You will never have to worry again about your thought-provoking, revenue driving article getting buried under yet another motivational or inspirational post, or commentary on the latest sports event.

Here are some things to keep in mind when generating content and distributing it on Facebook so you can make sure it reaches the most amount of eyeballs as possible:

Be mindful of what you post: Best practices when posting on Facebook call for thinking of the channel as an extension of your website. What you post will directly reflect your company’s brand image, so it should be in line with what you are trying to promote. Facebook is giving you the opportunity to distribute your content to your main readers, so if you use it correctly and post relevant material you will benefit.

Include a call to action: The site is evolving to accommodate news and information, but be mindful of the fact that it is still a social media site. Include a call to action in your posts to drive dialogue and directly engage with your readers. Make them show you are listening as much as you are informing them. Leave posts open and your readers will reward you with additional content below the post.

Make your post relevant: Recently, Facebook asked thousands of users how they rank quality content, and used the results to create a quality algorithm that works just like Google Hummingbird. Now, pages that are timely and relevant will stand a much greater chance of ranking higher on the site. Ask yourself whether a post is timely and is considered news, and whether it will help to build credibility and trust with your audience and be shared by others.

We want to know: how do you use Facebook to deliver content? Please tell us about your experiences in the comments section below.