Good! The end of Spammy Facebook Engagement ClickBait
“LIKE this if you’re an Aries!”
“Vote on your 2018 goals”
“Share with 10 friends to win a new car”
“Tag friends who know this answer”
“Comment ‘Yes’ if you love rock music”
You’ve seen these before? Right?
Of course, you have…and I know you’ve gotten sucked in…we’ve all have… by this Facebook engagement clickbait. Sucked in by these bottom-feeder clickbait tactics.
We see them everywhere…
…as your news feed is filled to the brim with these trashy, redtop, hollow, sensational posts – all screaming for attention.
…the worst offenders, in my news feed, are hotels, restaurants, and gyms.
Don’t worry, I am Urban Renström, there is always science and research involved in everything I say, teach, and demonstrate.
What are the worst Facebook engagement clickbait offenders in your news feed? Comment below
What is Facebook Engagement Clickbait?
In a blog post in early December Facebook laid out what clickbait is and what they are doing about it.
Here are examples of Facebook engagement clickbait in pictures:
“Vote on your 2018 goals”
“LIKE this if you’re an Aries!”
‘Share with 10 friends to win a new car’
…’it’ is the headlines…begging for attention…offering moments of diversion all about…all about…breath in anticipation…of nothing.
Exhale in disappointment…
Right? Right.
The posts are vote bait or react bait, share baiting, oh sugar the name does not matter…what matters is the bait and switch
…the ‘bait’ gets ‘you’ to comment etc. and ‘switch’ helps them ‘game the system’ to get more reach…
Right?
Don’t be fooled by the false promises these headlines offer…because after the flashy headlines are nothing but low-quality web pages and experiences.
Why Should Facebook Engagement Clickbait?
Low-quality web pages and experiences are the type of posts Facebook despises.
…Facebook despises…here’s the kicker…it’s not really Facebook that despises these posts it’s us – you and me!
Yep, all along we’re telling Facebook, the mightiest big brother, we are unimpressed with clickbait headlines and posts. Yep.
People have told us that they dislike spammy posts on Facebook that goad them into interacting with likes, shares, comments, and other actions.
The collective WE don’t like clickbait.
And now Facebook is doing a big something about them.
The Clickbait is Simple
Clickbait posts are easily made and easy to game the Facebook algorithm.
engagement bait,” seeks to take advantage of our News Feed algorithm by boosting engagement in order to get greater reach.
(which obviously begs the question – if gaming the system is this simple…why was nothing done about it sooner :0) )
Clickbait post beat the system because the system sees the comments, shares, and likes a post gets, the normal algorithm indicators…as evidence of a good quality post…the system then decides more people should see the post…a virtuous cycle and how the system should work. Right? Wrong.
Yep, if posts are from friends, news sites, good videos etc., and get shares and comments then we want a virtuous cycle.
A virtuous up cycle…unless and until ‘working the system’ is used for nothing good…becomes a vicious cycle of low-quality content popping up in the news feed.
That is, until now.
…as of Dec. 18, 2017, Facebook decided to fight against clickbait engagement posts.
Starting the week of the 18th of December, Facebook will demote individual posts from people and Pages that use engagement bait!!!
Can we get a collective hell yes??
Read that again…Facebook is demoting posts from people and pages that use engagement bait to get engagement!!
Wow…the upshot of this, if you are into clickbait posts then it is time to change or die, baby, change or die!!
Change your tactics or die.
How will this affect your business page?
Expect reach on clickbait posts to decrease. Bigly!
If you repeatedly use engagement bait tactics, your Page will see a significant drop in reach.
Ouch…
We will roll out this Page-level demotion over the course of several weeks (leading into Jan ‘18)
Wow!
‘Page-level demotion’!!
Publishers and businesses…should expect their reach on these posts to decrease.
And AND! Pages that repeatedly share engagement bait posts will see more significant drops in reach.
Oh, my word!!
Foster more Authentic and Real Engagement
Authentic and clickbait goes deeper because back in May, ’17 Facebook cracked down on Low-Quality Web Page Experiences and rolled out an update so people would see fewer of these posts and ads…
The end goal of the Dec 18th and May updates was to punish advertisers and page posts with reduced reach, or bans.
What is allowed – Facebook Posts
Facebook Posts that ask people for help, advice, or recommendations, circulate a missing child report, raise money for a cause, or ask for travel tips, are not clickbait and are not impacted by this update.
Keeping your post authentic and promoting ‘more meaningful and authentic conversations on Facebook is the key to avoiding the ban hammer.
Post posts like it’s a normal conversation…
Right?
Facebook wants a news feed with authentic engagement from people
Yes, you can still use COMMENT TRIGGER posts using Facebook Messenger bots!
(more on using Messenger bots in future posts)
You should be fine with comment trigger posts as long as your posts are AUTHENTIC. Not spammy. Not gimmicky. And you are not trying to game the algorithm.
Follow these suggestions:
News Feed Publisher Guidelines
Guidelines exist and here are the three news feed publisher guidelines to follow because it is what people value:
- Content That’s Meaningful and Informative
- Accurate and Authentic Content
- Standards for Safe, Respectful Behavior
So there you have it…
“LIKE this if you’re an Aries!”
“Vote on your 2018 goals”
“Tag friend who knows this answer”
Are examples of clickbait actively banned on Facebook.