News and tips about Facebook 📲

It is true: at the same time as it launches a new digital currency, Facebook is also announcing changes to how it shows comments to users. And because we know every comment matters for raising your page's engagement, we are also sharing a few tricks so you know when and what to post, all to improve the organic reach of your posts.

But let's start at the beginning. Whenever you open the world's largest social network and come across a news story, for example, which comments do you see first? Even if you are not closely following this topic, you will already have noticed: usually, the first comments you see are from someone in your friends list.

After that, the list continues with the comments that have the most likes or replies.

Did you know there is a ranking for comments?

With the new News Feed algorithm, Mark Zuckerberg's platform wants to keep encouraging users to comment and leave reactions, and to keep them on the site for longer. So, whenever you can, reply to the main and most relevant comments left on your page's posts. That will increase engagement with your fans.

Yes, there is a ranking system on Facebook, just as there is with Google's search engine, that decides the order in which comments are shown. That is why, with the creation of the "Top Fan" and "Top Contributor" badges, the order we were used to has changed.

Of course there are other factors to take into account. Even if two comments have the same number of likes, there is still an order to follow. As with the News Feed, and to raise the quality and relevance of the content, Facebook now adds two more requirements for a comment to be shown first:

1. Generating interactions from the page itself or from the person who made the original post;
2. The comments or reactions come from people who are friends with the user who made the original post.

The tech giant says it will keep taking every signal into account, so that poor-quality comments are not shown prominently, even if they are written by the person who originally created the post or by their friends.

How do you improve engagement?

So, if you want to improve how followers interact with your page through a higher number of comments (and Indigit recommends that you do, because it increases reach), you should always reply to whatever will spark more discussion and lead other users to leave a like or a comment.

But if you really want to understand every benefit of this strategy, you also need to know every other element that feeds this ranking system.

How does the ranking work?

Well, it depends. If your page has a lot of followers, Facebook will automatically organise comments by relevance, meaning it will give more prominence to those with more replies and likes. That can also happen on pages with fewer fans, but it is usually unnecessary given the low volume of comments.

At the same time, comments can also be organised in chronological order. You can do that manually. But if ranking by relevance is turned on, Facebook says it uses the following signals to decide it:

1. Integrity. This is a basic point. If a comment breaks the community rules, the system will remove it. And if it is only a hook to attract likes (so-called engagement bait), it is very likely to be removed as well.
2. How users see it. You will already have come across those little surveys Facebook runs. Well, the US company takes the answers very seriously. They are used to help the algorithm pick not only the most relevant comments but also the posts in the feed. If most people say they want to see a certain type of comment, that is a factor to take into account.
3. Engagement. As we have already said, reactions and replies are fundamental to how comments are organised and shown. And because Facebook always wants more interaction between posts and users, it makes sense to show first whatever will lead to more interaction.

Of course there are other relevant factors, but those can be controlled by page admins. They can, for example, hide or delete comments completely, which is very useful for spam links, content with no connection to the topic of the post, or comments that simply do not add to the conversation.

And the risks for brands?

Of course you need extra care when you decide to hide comments (the safer option) or delete them completely. In the first case, only the general public stops seeing them; they stay active and visible to the person who wrote them and to their connections. If you delete a comment, your brand may face angry attacks from the person who wrote it, and even accusations of discrimination or censorship.

You can never be too careful. Always take into account the intention of the person commenting.

What are the key moments for posting?

According to a guide Facebook released this month, in this modern era the way people connect and interact has changed, and not only from a technological point of view. The report says that anyone working in marketing and social media should pay extra attention to events and celebrations, a new way for people to relate to one another.

"We have entered a time when people expect more relevance and personalised experiences at every moment. Marketers and agencies cannot simply have one solution for every brand and one posting schedule. In this world, where everything is thought through in detail, there is more complexity for anyone making ads, but also more opportunities to create meaningful relationships between people and brands at the most important moments," the document says.

At the heart of this report is the fact that it is because of apps and more modern tools, and no longer because of large events, that people celebrate. Small occasions now help you segment marketing campaigns better and reach your target audience more easily.

If you want a better sense of how this niche works, and how to reach your target audience more easily, you can look at this article from the Facebook team, which Indigit summarises here.

Over the past few years, there has been more and more talk of weddings, honeymoons, small parties, career changes or life changes. Have you noticed that when you look at your feed? First, this social network offers a view of how it defines the key moments you need to focus on, splitting them by importance and category.

You can see them in detail in the chart below:

Each of these moments creates several opportunities for brands to build connections, if the people in charge know their audience's main interests.

By lining up with these events, you can work to build stronger ties with your public, based on the fundamental elements that matter most to your customers. Still in this report, Facebook gives specific examples of several types of events and includes notes on their importance and relevance.

As you can see, each moment has its marketing indicators and notes that help businesses understand how they can, and should, stay aligned with what the audience likes, at crucial moments like these, and in their campaigns.

What does this mean for the marketing team?

On top of that, Facebook also offers specific notes on each category.

1. Embrace what is familiar. Daily activities are regular and predictable, and they are the ones everyone identifies with. Understanding daily signals lets marketers reach people in the right way, combining a deep knowledge of customers' day-to-day lives with the inspiration they are looking for. A brand can establish itself as a trusted source for anyone looking for recommendations, for example.
2. Think about the community. Brands have the chance to bring people together every day. Consider making yourself a valued, serious ally in the community, or an active voice for a cause that affects that group of people regularly or often. Facebook Groups help strengthen these relationships, both inside and outside the platform.
3. Be where your customers are. On weekdays or at the weekend, our phones are constantly sending notifications. To connect effectively with people during both daily routines, optimise your campaigns on every platform where your brand is present. That can lead to more and better results, based on the goals you set for each one. Meet your audience wherever and whenever they are online.

This is the right strategy to adopt: line up with the most relevant moments, so you can work to make your brand more important in your customers' lives. It is no longer only about promoting the company in a very broad way, but also about focusing on the smaller aspects and on how your audience lives, aligning better with their interests.

The document goes further still: it also talks about looking at seasonal events that may relate to the focus of your company or product. There are a few more interesting points: by becoming more specific, and more in touch with your target audience's interests, you can become an integral, active part of these moments.

To sum up, the notes to take from this report are these:

• Build an audience and use it to decide the best moment to reach them; grow that reach by taking advantage of creating lookalike audiences.
• Create messages that stand out. Once you have established how important these moments are in your audience's lives, use that knowledge to improve the strategy and give your imagination room to run. Find the creative spark that will help drive your business goals.
• Produce content for where people are. Stand out and exceed the expectations of people who expect 100% of everything. Brands should find people where they are, through the channels they prefer (whether that is Facebook or any other social media platform).

This is not a step-by-step guide, so of course it does not set out every point you need to create your campaigns. But it is a very effective way to better understand how marketing and advertising work today, as well as helping you build a plan more focused on your potential customers.

Consider every detail in every moment, the more human experience beyond banners or ads. Focus on the niches that can catapult your brand and create strong relationships with the audience. Finally, you can always use the tool Facebook provides to create a lookalike audience and find people looking for the same thing as your current customers.

If you have questions or need help optimising your company's presence on social media, get in touch!