Last week, Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg, dropped a bomb on social marketers. This is it. The end of non-paid reach for businesses. Simply put, Facebook will be pushing brand and business content out of the NewsFeed.

For many business owners, it was the end of the world as they knew it. What ensued next was nothing short of mass hysteria among social marketers. Most of us saw this coming, I mean, the writing has been on the wall since 2014. But why is Facebook choosing to make such an abrupt shift now? Why was Mark so vague with his announcement? But most importantly, what does this mean for YOUR business?

FB organic reach | Drive Social Media

You have to remember that Facebook has a lot of people to answer to. (Its shareholders and users, just to name a few.) In the announcement, the core reason for the shift was to improve person to person interactions to create better experiences for its users. But, let’s cut through all of the fluff and break down what Mr. Zuck really means.

 | Drive Social Media

So, when read between the lines of Zuckerberg’s message, it is clear that Facebook has been anticipating this change for some time now. So why did it make this change so abruptly? When it came down to it, there was simply no more room for content. (Even after acquiring Instagram, creating mid-roll video ads, the Facebook audience network, and so on…)

 | Drive Social Media

This is not something new, as Facebook has been making shifts to its algorithm for years, and while it probably has the best of intentions, it is becoming more and more clear that the end game has always been to increase its ad revenue.

 | Drive Social Media

So what does this mean for YOU, the business owner?  Facebook will now officially be a pay to play platform. Point blank- If you want your content to be seen in the NewsFeed, you will have to pay for the space.  If you want to see tangible conversions (meaning, an actual DOLLAR IN DOLLAR OUT return on investment) you need to completely rethink the way you look at your social media strategy. Your social KPIs should switch drastically from likes, comments and shares…. to leads, conversions and purchases. (And if you haven’t already done this, the time to start is NOW.) Facebook ad prices are already on the rise, and you should expect to see these to continuously increase, and increase fast.

Here at Drive, we saw this coming years ago, which is why we moved all of our partners to a 100% paid strategy in 2014. If you want to talk more about your social strategy and what you should do next, contact us for a free consultation!