With Facebook’s revamped News Feed just around the corner in terms of a full-scale roll out, content marketers wonder how transparent the social media network will be about upcoming algorithm changes. While search technology often gets associated with sites like Bing and Google, Facebook’s Graph Search and new News Feed poses the question: “Will Facebook tell marketers when new algo changes have been implemented?”
In vice president of global marketing solutions for Facebook Grady Burnett’s keynote at SMX West, he noted that the social media site might offer marketers “weather reports” for News Feed algorithm updates. These miniature updates can inform social media marketing professionals about potential changes in content curation and discovery, allowing them to quickly implement changes for greater brand visibility and lead generation.
Facebook provides brands with the chance to engage audiences socially, adding to web chatter and compelling connections to share, Like or comment on relevant media. More, well-written copy with bold headlines and vibrant images might even drive referral traffic back to branded websites, so knowing when Facebook puts potential algo changes into the pipeline can help brands develop stronger social campaigns. For example, when a business notices a huge increase or decrease in Facebook traffic, it can assume some change has been made to the EdgeRank algorithm. Knowing exactly what changes have been made can help tailor future updates to appeal to the social giant’s content-ranking preferences.
“We can certainly do a better job of communicating and offering clarity on things.” The last EdgeRank update saw a 20 percent decline in people hiding content and spammy news from their News Feeds. – Facebook’s Grady Burnett
At SMX, Danny Sullivan asked Grady if Facebook will provide marketers with adequate updates on algorithm changes or refreshes. Grady responded, “We can certainly do a better job of communicating and offering clarity on things.” The last EdgeRank update saw a 20 percent decline in people hiding content and spammy news from their News Feeds.
Content marketers are already used to the phrase “weather reports,” as Yahoo! and Google have both used them to update search and content professionals about changes to various content-ranking technologies. Google’s Matt Cutts often Tweets out recent weather reports on the day new versions of Panda or Penguin launch.
