What the (Latest) Facebook Algorithm Changes Mean for Your College Admissions Marketing

By Gil Rogers

Every few years Facebook makes headlines with changes to their mobile app, desktop experience, or algorithms that determine what you see on their platform. The latest headlines have to do with a decision to scale back the number of branded posts you see and shift to a focus on community (i.e. posts by your family and friends).

In an era of “fake news” and “social media addiction”, this may be a welcome change.  Maybe photos of new babies or vacations over posts by Corporate America will do us all some good.  However, what are admissions marketers to do when we’ve invested so much time and effort into building our voice.

Ultimately, there are 3 key takeaways as we start to think about yield season and shifting gears to our next class:

  • There’s no such thing as free – One of the things that made Facebook attractive was the fact that creating a profile was (and still is) free. However, to build a following has always taken time and effort.  Now, it will take more (see takeaway 2!)
  • Your digital marketing plan is as important as ever – One important nugget with these latest changes is that Facebook’s ad platform isn’t going away. It’s still possible (and recommended) to boost content.  This simply means accurate targeting is more important than ever before.
  • “Likes” are no longer relevant (have they ever been?) – It doesn’t matter how many “likes” you have if your content isn’t easily displayed to your followers.  Once again, how you leverage digital marketing will have a huge impact on engagement on Facebook and every other digital marketing platform.

Dazed and confused about how to adjust?  Contact your NRCCUA Regional Director to discuss Omnichannel Enrollment Services today.