Here at Oneicity we are big fans of Facebook.
Facebook drives conversation around your ministry, builds community with your donors, and supports conversion of online income. The ministries we work with that are seeing 30-40% growth in online giving are able to achieve those results only by leveraging and investing in social media as part of their digital mix.
However lest we forget, we do not own Facebook. (I know . . . if only we were lucky enough to own stock, right?)
The last several months Facebook has been busy making updates and adjustments to their algorithm that can have a big effect on what we do as nonprofits.
Below is a summary of the big changes and how they may impact your page:
- Losing Fans: In the past two months Facebook has been busy doing spring cleaning. Deleting bogus and spam accounts from across their platform. Although it’s disappointing to see the number of fans on your page go down, these were likely never accounts that engaged with your page in the first place.
- Hiding what your friends interact with: Facebook will begin hiding or removing the posts that show what your friends liked or commented on in your newsfeed. This update is good news for engagement (i.e. more relevant content for the user), but it could potentially hurt your page’s secondhand reach of having your content seen by non-fans of your page. This makes incorporating Facebook ads more valuable. It also increases the value of getting users to share your content on their page.
- More of a good thing: In the past, Facebook’s algorithm had limited the amount of posts from a single person or page that could show in a row. With the upcoming changes, users will have the ability to see more of the content from sources they frequently like and engage with. This update can be a good thing. It should make you evaluate your posting frequency and engagement strategies. The more you post content that gets engagement, the more content from you those users will see.
The Summary
Facebook making adjustments to their algorithm is nothing new and will not (contrary to what some forecast) be the demise of the value of Facebook as a marketing tool. Ministries may see a month or two of decline in engagement after an adjustment, but, as with every change to the algorithm, Facebook rewards good content that drives engagement. The happier and more active your donors and supporters are on your page, the more benefit you can reap from Facebook.
Got additional questions? Feel free to comment below and I’ll do my best to answer.
Lindsey Lind
Vice President of Digital, Oneicity
