If you don’t make your post a “Top Story” on Facebook, chances are that no one will see your post in their Facebook News Feed. You will be wasting your time. If you are doing this for business in Halifax, Dartmouth, Truro or elsewhere, this makes it even worse. Here’s some help for you and your business.

With the recent change to Facebook’s algorithm, it has gotten harder for many to create visibility for their Facebook Page posts in Facebook new feeds of others. Visibility numbers have greatly dropped for many Facebook Page posts. But there is hope for those who will market smartly. Here is why.

Plain text posts will be harder to create Top Stories with. What Facebook is looking for is link-shared posts. If you want to create greater visibility for your Facebook Page posts, these link-shared posts are going to have to become your bread and butter. No more text-based posts with links along in them. Instead one must use link-shared posts.

Why is this happening you might ask? Facebook wants posts that will be more engaging to their members. After all, Facebook needs to expand and generate revenue for its stock holders. Either you work with Facebook, or you learn to live with decreased visibility numbers. Bottom line, Facebook wants more interesting stories that will make people want to stay with them.

So what is the difference between a link-shared post and a text post with a link in it? In the end, it’s the look.

Here’s how you create a link-shared post. Once you post a link into the post area and it creates a story down below, delete the link and insert text into the post area. A link-shred post has content directly become the text. The title and the graphic are clickable. If it’s a video, it’s clickable.

Facebook does not want the link in the upper part of the post. They want you to create cool stuff below the text.

So what makes a Top Story on Facebook? What are the things that people will engage with? Here’s some thoughts:

  • Pictures and videos  – they help create top stories because people will LIKE and share them. They might even comment on them. Links to great stories also quality. But make sure you copy the link and delete it after the story appears below.
  • Comments on posts  – they help create top stories. Not only that, but they create an interaction that Edgerank sees. Facebook wants material that people will comment on. Facebook will reward you for a post that gets a lot of comments.
  • People sharing your posts – they help create top stories. Shares greatly help increase your chances of becoming a Top Story in the first place. When a post is shared, can can become visible to people not in your immediate network.

These are just a few quick examples on how you can create top stories on Facebook and increase your visibility. In the end, you have to be very strategic in how you compose your post.

Have questions? Ask away. Here’s to a great day of business for you.