Brands relying on “free” advertising on Facebook will have to rethink their communication strategies. The social network has announced that, as from January 2015, the reach of all commercially oriented posts will be drastically reduced.

The move aims at pushing brands to book pay-per-click or pay-per-impression campaigns. This is a hard blow to those companies which have invested time and money in building a vast follow, but it is completely understandable from the point of view of a social network which, like any other business, aims at increasing its revenue. The decision is also intended to create a better News Feed experience for users who are not interested in seeing ad-like posts from brands.

What will change for you?

Facebook will begin limiting the number of promotional page posts in the News Feed. That means that your followers will see fewer posts from you, if you ask them to buy your products, visit your open days or enter promotions. Brand posts that reuse the exact same content from advertisements will also be limited: posting the image of a flier or other advertisements will become a futile exercise.

What can you do about it?

Apart from booking campaigns, it will now be crucial for you to invest in the creation of good quality content (such as non-commercial articles) for your website. Such articles can then be shared on Facebook, as this type of posts will not be penalized.

Strategic Communications can support you in the creation of a content strategy and posting schedule, aimed at ensuring that your posts will keep on reaching your target audience.