Many fitness businesses are rethinking their marketing strategies after Facebook recently announced algorithmic changes its news feed feature. The news feed is Facebook’s biggest money spinner, so it is wise for marketeers to pay attention.

As part of the changes, Facebook stated that it is leveraging new signals such as user surveys to prioritise posts from close friends and content you might find worthwhile.

The news feed algorithm will now factor in:

• How often you interact with a given friend;
• The number of mutual friends you share;
• Whether you mark that person as a close friend; and
• Surveys to take into account the friends and pages whose updates you would actually like to see on your news feed.
  • It will appear more like a crowd sourcing-like approach to rank posts on the feed.
  • This effectively means you will see more posts from your closest buddies as opposed to distant acquaintances, meaning ‘distance’ matters.

In a similar vein, Facebook conducted surveys to find out what type of links people interact with the most. It then combined this information with other details about the post – like the type of post (link, video, etc.), the publisher, and the engagement it has received – to accurately predict if you are likely to find a link valuable.

This shift is part of a continued move from a public platform to a more closed-off, personal space. By focusing on meaningful interactions between people, Facebook is seeking to distance itself from a string of issues that have eroded public’s trust in it over the last few years, such as polarisation, fake news, and hate speech and extremist content.

Despite Facebook becoming ‘the most’ competitive platform available to market your fitness business sending ad spend up, it still remains one of the best ways to target a specific audience for anyone with the ‘know how’.

Here are 3 ways that will help you with Facebook’s news feed changes:

1. Smart Content:
   • Facebook’s new approach determines if your posts will be shown to users or not – So blatant advertising no longer works.
   • Instead, Facebook favour active interactions such as comments or shares over likes.
   • Hitting the right note in your content to spark person-to-person connection rather than person-to-brand will improve your engagement.
   • The new algorithm aims to predict which posts users will like and engage with, so this means you should focus on posting valuable content, tips and any stuff that can spark a conversation, making it more personal.
2. No Clickbait:
   • Engagement tactics like “tag a friend that you think needs a free PT” or “like this post if you want to start eating healthy” used to work to get your numbers up, but this is shallow engagement and is in no way meaningful or valuable.
   • Remember that you are spending your money in Facebook to get leads and doing this does not get you close to this goal.
   • The new Facebook algorithm recognises this as clutter and marks it as spam.
   • Note – you can still request an action via VIDEO.
3. The Value of Video:
   • Video content sparks conversations and provide more meaningful interaction compared to images and links alone, so start posting regular videos content.
   • Top Tip: Live videos generate six times more audience interaction than regular videos, so get on Facebook Live!
   • Change does not end here. As a business owner/manager, you should always be on your toes and expect Facebook to roll out more tweaks in the future. So stay on top of these changes and adjust your marketing strategy to ensure your fitness business content remains relevant and engaging to your target audience.