Facebook recently made an interesting change to the Page content they are going to show in users' News Feeds.
Straight from Facebook,
"Now, When a Page tags another Page, we may show the post to some of the people who like or follow the tagged Page".
While this seems like it's ripe for abuse, Facebook is going to be taking several factors into account to avoid spamming users' News Feeds with irrelevant content, just because a Page has tagged every other Page under the sun.
Facebook is going to be considering the commonality of interest between Pages, as well as engagement with individual pieces of content to determine if it may be of interest to those who have not 'liked' the Page the content is coming from.
For instance, if a significant number of people that 'like' your Page also 'like' my Page, Facebook is reading this as indication that our Pages are connected in a sense. So, if you produce a great piece of content that is being engaged with by people that 'like' both of our Pages, Facebook may serve your content in the News Feed of people that 'like' my Page, in addition to those that 'like' yours.
What isn't clear is exactly how far reaching this will be, though I would imagine it will be tweaked and changed over time.
The one thing we do know for sure is that Facebook certainly won't allow for our content to be so far reaching that it mitigates the value offered by their advertising products, so this shouldn't be viewed as some impression- or fan acquisition-boosting loophole.
So, how should you act on this? Here are a few considerations:
Test @Tagging Related Pages
There's no point in tagging every Page you can think of in hopes of broadening the reach of your Facebook content. But, go ahead and test this new update out by tagging Pages that are, or that you hypothesize to be, relevant to your business' Page. The only way to know how tagging Pages will affect the reach of your content is to try it out, so go for it.
Monitor and Measure Results
Keep an eye on how the content performs that you've tagged to determine if this is something that is going to make a positive impact on the results of your social media marketing efforts. If you see upticks in impressions, engagement, fan acquisition, or other related metrics, then keep tagging away (smartly, of course)
Tag Pages Because it Makes Sense, Not for the Sake of Tagging
Don't think that you should be tagging a Page in every post just because Facebook may serve your content to a new audience. Only tag other Pages when it makes sense in the context of the content you are publishing. If you're tagging willy-nilly, not only is it unlikely that Facebook will serve your content to a new audience, but your existing audience will see through your thinly veiled marketing efforts and will potentially be turned off by the irrelevance of your poorly chosen tags.
Be Prepared for this Update to be Updated
Be ready for this feature to change. My spidey sense is telling me that this is going to be updated, adjusted, pulled, reintroduced, and run through the spin cycle a few times before we really get a handle on what this will mean for our day-to-day Page management and Facebook content creation. Keep an ear to the ground for any changes and how it may affect how you're testing this, whether you should put a halt to tagging all-together, or whether you should ramp up your efforts.
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How do you plan to take advantage of Facebook's new content distribution feature?
Are you going to begin creating content specifically to be tagged?
How significantly, or insignificantly, do you think this is going to affect the reach of your content?
It'd be great to chat with you about this and hear your thoughts in the comments, or on Facebook at facebook.com/RGBSocial