Facebook Changes that WILL Affect Your Small Business 2019

Noticed the glitches? People locked out of their accounts, messages appearing and disappearing at random; unable to comment on posts… Welcome to Facebook 2019! Generally, when FaceBook starts glitching wildly, we can expect an update or a change.

We are about to see some seismic facebook changes that will affect your small business in 2019 and beyond. You cannot afford to ignore these changes.

The new focus of FaceBook will be privacy – something slightly ironic to those who remember the completely awkward testimonies that Mark Zuckerberg gave to Congress in April 2018.

So, if the future is private, how will these Facebook changes affect our businesses, and what can we do?

Overview of Facebook Changes Affecting Businesses in 2019

What’s going to change In FaceBook In 2019?

The main changes include; the facebook newsfeed, messaging, stories and a firmer focus on privacy.

Is the Facebook Newsfeed Going?

Probably. It looks as though the FaceBook newsfeed will be replaced with groups of curated content, rather

than a mish-mash of timeline updates. We can probably expect to see content from our close friends and

family, groups that we’re particularly active in, and other content based on or inspired by our recent

interactions and searches.

What is Project LightSpeed?

Project Lightspeed will be the new, fully encrypted messenger app from Facebook. It will integrate messaging across FaceBook, Whatsapp and possibly Instagram. Project Lightspeed will be the smallest and lightest messaging app available (according to Zuckberg) and will allow us to send pictures, stories, videos and chat much more organically than currently available.

What about ‘close friends and family’?

‘Close friends and family’ is the term that FaceBook have used to describe those in our inner circle; the people we are tagged with, attend events with, share interests with and have conversations with. These contacts will form the heart of the new facebook privacy experience.

Will Facebook Groups Change in 2019?

Groups will be even more important than ever, HOWEVER, with the focus on close friends and family, I think we can expect group culls (as happened in January 2019, when inactive group members were removed). The focus with groups MUST be communities. Running a group is easy; running an engaged, vibrant and growing community is difficult and a lot of work. Lesley and I have been recommending collaborative groups to our clients. This is where you buddy up with another business owner, influencer, blogger etc in an aligning niche, but one which does not compete with you directly, and create a community together. Get a team around you. It will ensure diversity of content and genuine interest in your community.

Messaging and Lightspeed

How many small business owners boost facebook posts? How many have ever run messenger ads? If FaceBook is removing the barriers and creating a more natural and easy messenger experience, then wouldn’t it make sense for us to get in on that???

Stories

FaceBook and Instagram LOVE stories… it’s become integrated with messenger and we have already seen features on stories that we can’t do in normal posts. Expect to see a shift towards storytelling and for our businesses this should be no different. Stories share our ‘real selves’ with our clients, we can show them behind the scenes, make funny posts and allow our reality to unroll in front of them. Worried about being spammy? Stories are the antidote to this, lasting just 24 hours and available on groups and business pages.

Overall top tips for Facebook Changes Affecting Businesses in 2019

Don’t panic – Businesses on facebook are not going away… we provide revenue for the platform and they’re not anti-corporation.
Evolution, not revolution – these changes are likely to be rolled out bit by bit and slowly.
Create events for your business events!
Decrease your reliance on ‘like ladders’ and social saturdays etc. The days of these working to grow your audience are numbered.

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