The news came straight from Mark Zuckerberg’s mouth (aka his Facebook) on January 11th: Facebook would be changing their news feed algorithm. This didn’t mean just a different assortment on your news feed of posts from the people and businesses you follow; it actually means harkening back to Facebook’s earlier days. This means more posts from your families, friends, people you actually know, and yes, more updates on daily coffee runs and the new family dog. He’s so cute though, so you don’t mind.

However, the Zuck mentioned how this would prioritize these types of posts over public content posts from businesses, brands and media.

Hold up.

Businesses? Brands? MEDIA? That checks off all of our boxes, and maybe yours. And maybe your Aunt Bev’s new gluten-free bakeshop she’s trying to market on Facebook. So, what’re we gonna do about it? OR, how should we possibly embrace this? How are we going to help Aunt Bev?

1. For starters, it’s NOT affecting your ad algorithm. So no need to worry about your ads not being seen (are you even making ads, bro? Do you need some help?)

2. Did you know that you can prioritize the Pages you follow on Facebook with the “See First” option? This allows you to see the pages you actually want to see first. AdWeek does a great how-to on activating it. 

3. You know that messenger option on Facebook? Yeah, use it.

4. Facebook Live and Watch will see an increase in use. As in this will be one of your biggest options for reach next to ads, with Zuck even saying, “live videos often lead to discussion among viewers on Facebook—in fact, live videos on average get six times as many interactions as regular videos.”

5. It will be affecting your organic content, which brings us to: less is more. This means posting less content than you do if you’re posting a lot, but making it more meaningful and conversational. So if you’re a company that does the whole “Like this if you (insert totally unrelated suggestion here)” bit, then you’ll be seeing less engagement. Sorry (insert almost every millennial media publication ever).

6. This is the biggest takeaway: invest in good content. This doesn’t mean just literally pay for ads. It means the algorithm change can give you the time to see who is actually following you and to tailor your content to these customers, clients and fans. And if we’re all in the honesty circle together right now, isn’t that why we started a business in the first place?

Now everyone, breathe. We’re all going to be ok. Facebook has served us well in the 10+ years it’s been around, and this change is meant to make content more meaningful and interactive in the most positive way possible. And if you’re still worried, there’s always some other tools and tactics you can use not only on Facebook, but all of your other social media channels, as well. We believe in you! And if that all fails, you can always run the counter at Aunt Bev’s bakery.