It all started here with Mark Zuckerberg announcing his challenge for 2018.
Today feels a lot like that first year. The world feels anxious and divided, and Facebook has a lot of work to do — whether it’s protecting our community from abuse and hate, defending against interference by nation states, or making sure that time spent on Facebook is time well spent.
My personal challenge for 2018 is to focus on fixing these important issues. [Full post]
Then it followed with this announcement about the Facebook News Feed restructuration.
As we roll this out, you’ll see less public content like posts from businesses, brands, and media. And the public content you see more will be held to the same standard — it should encourage meaningful interactions between people. [Full post]
So what’s left for us as small businesses?
Okay…… so what’s left for us advertisers, marketers, small businesses and organizations who just got on the ball with social media. Finally, you were ready for investing time and money in your social media marketing efforts, including keeping at least that $400 every month for Facebook ads, and them boom! You hear the news.
Well… no panic! Each time Facebook announces a new major shift the whole world is shaking. But I personally find that each new move by Facebook pushes us to be smarter, and more accountable to our fans.
Nonetheless, I totally understand the many questions we all have whether we’re a huge company or a small business.
Does this mean that our Facebook page’s fans will see even less of our posts compared to what they used to, which was between 1% to 4% of your posts?
Does this mean that our Facebook videos and live videos won’t matter as much – knowing that the reach for those videos have already gone down in the last few months. [Did you notice that when you go live there are way less people catching up with you? I did.]
Does this mean I should give up investing money in ads for my business?
Well, the list of questions can go on and on after what Mark Zuckerberg has announced about re-building the Facebook newsfeed, which means re-tweaking the Facebook’s algorithm [the secret formula] that dictates what you see or not in your newsfeed.
How I take it…Always be positive!
Nobody has clear answers yet. But ONE THING I’m pretty sure is that social media is all about people…and this won’t change. With no people there is no Facebook…because ultimately the buzz…no matter what…comes from you and I, your sister, neighbour, hairdresser… people… letting the world know we’re happy, sad, excited, mad, in awe etc.
This is actually why Facebook has been built for, originally.
We built Facebook to help people stay connected and bring us closer together with the people that matter to us. That’s why we’ve always put friends and family at the core of the experience. – Mark Zuckerberg
So let’s go back to PEOPLE. For me, it’s pretty clear, and even clearer with this announcement, that our community members are the ones that should relay how AWESOME our business or organization is to their friends and family.
This means that even more than before we gonna have to raise the bar and serve our clients and prospects at a higher level with even more valuable content [free and paid] so that THEY love us so much [I mean our products and services and yes, us as a human being] that THEY talk about us in the news feed from their Facebook profiles [I mean posting about us, sharing our content even more, raving about how we changed their life]. Right?
7 Tips To Help You Reconnect With Your Tribe
Now, how do you do that. Well, it’s all about what Facebook is about: building communities. And yes it’s a lot of work as any great thing…it takes times and consistency. But it’s worthy. How many times I told my clients: don’t throw Facebook ads out there without even knowing who you’re talking to, let’s build the love first! [Unless you’ve done your homework and you exactly know who needs what]. So here are a few tips, if you want to build or strengthen your community on Facebook. This is not exhaustive as we’ll be talking about this more in depth all year long in 2018.
1- See First
Ask your current fans to add you in their list of Facebook pages to see first. 
2- Create a Facebook Group
Facebook groups are a great start to create bonding relationships with people who’ve discovered you and want to see more exclusive content from you before buying from you. See how to create a group here. You can join mine today by clicking on the image. 
3- Use Facebook’s Free Features
There are so many options you can use to interact with your community on Facebook that will help you build a personal relationship with them via Messenger, Newsletter, Polls etc.
4- Build Your Email List And Use It
Emails are the steady blood of your business. People might not see you on Facebook because of the algorithm, but they see your emails in their Inbox, whether they choose to open it or no. I personally use Mailchimp. Open your account today and collect e-mail from your peeps : let them know about your next Live Video on Facebook, your new services, your new freebie etc. By the way, join my list if you think I can help you more. 
5- Use A Social Media Content Calendar
Your calendar will help you not to loose your mind. Each and everyday you know what needs to be posted on social media because you spent a good hour on the weekend figuring our what will be your focus on Facebook this week, keeping in mind you want to build a tight and loyal community. You can do it on a monthly basis as well, even better. Download my template here.
6- Help People With Live and Recorded Videos
The more people can benefit from your expertise for free in your groups or on your Facebook page, the more they will be open to become your best advocates and loyal fans sharing your videos with their friends so that you can be seen in the News Feed. Learn more tips about Facebook Videos. 
7 – Ask People To Help You
People who follow you like you as a person to a certain degree. Some of them like you so much that if you ask them to share or comment in a very kind and transparent way, THEY WILL. Trust your tribe. But keep the good work at all times. Serve them.
BONUS: Crank up your game with Messenger Marketing
I’ve been playing with ManyChat bot for the last 2 months and it’s pretty impressive all you can do with a bot – a nice bot – a bot that sounds like you. I would encourage each of you smaller businesses to embark on this Messenger marketing journey as this will be a great way to support your Facebook efforts.
Do you think this makes sense? Let me know in the comment and send me a thumbs up on messenger by clicking here: m.me/socialmedialoveab
Cheers,
– Angélique
If you want to learn more about social media marketing – join my YouTube channel HERE for more videos.
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