As a home builder trying to survive and thrive in a fiercely competitive market, your objective is to satisfy your customers. However, in the current competitive home-building business environment reaching potential customers is a bigger struggle than even building a home.

A reliable digital marketing strategy such as Facebook Advertising is indispensable and extremely effective. Keep in mind that this Mark Zuckerberg owned social network currently has the highest number of monthly users (MAUs) as compared to competitors such as Twitter, Snap Chat and Instagram.

So how does Facebook decide who sees your updates and when?

Simple! It uses algorithms that are adjusted all the time

The latest update on their algorithms is essentially two crucial updates that will impact the overall visibility of a builder’s Facebook page extensively.

Wanna optimize your page to reach as many potential clients as possible?

Here is a brief but detailed breakdown of the two updates you definitely need to pay attention to

1.) The new algorithms now focus on judging authenticity

This simply means this social network is going out of its way to ascertain whether you are trying to game the system by taking advantage of vulnerabilities.

Facebook unlike other social media platforms is very forthcoming in informing users what they can do to boost visibility in the News Feed. This is a double edged sword because while other users use this information in a legit manner, others will try and find vulnerabilities in their algorithms that can be exploited.

For instance, Facebook was very upfront when it made clear than video broadcast would get higher reach as compared to other contents. This announcement made sense at the time because the Mark Zuckerberg owned company was trying to promote live broadcasts heavily.

Although this turned out to be a brilliant marketing strategy that worked it also exposed vulnerability that some marketers exploited hence the rise of pages filled with graphics only live videos. Since this method of self-promotion did not serve consumers in any way Facebook has decided to crack down on people taking advantage of this algorithm by substantially limiting visibility for graphics-only live broadcasts using the new algorithms.

Another algorithm that has been taken advantage of high engagement rates boosting visibility

Since marketers know that high engagement rates boost visibility they quit creating authentic engagements and choose to manipulate the system. Some pages go as far as explicitly asking people for shares, likes and comments as a way to increase their reach. This is shunned upon by Facebook and is viewed as dishonest and inauthentic.

How does the new Facebook update help fix this vulnerability?

Facebook has used previous data from pages that regularly use inauthentic updates to build a model that automatically identifies and predicts whether other pages are authentic. Some qualities of inauthentic pages include those that ask for likes or for sharing updates. If your business page has similar characteristics to those of authentic pages, the visibility of your Facebook updates will be limited

Furthermore, Facebook is now treading more careful by withholding information on how they measure authenticity; this is because they are looking to protect people exploiting their systems.

So how does judging authenticity affect a home-builder’s Facebook Page?

This new update will affect the entire set-up of your page including all the content you choose to display. There are no tricks, it is all about coming up with creative information that will appeal, attract and retain the attention of your clientele base.

Can this work to your advantage?

Absolutely Yes! This can work to your advantage if you focus on creating a versatile page that is rich with types of content to avid limited visibility. Since videos are not the only medium that determines how visible you are, it gives room for more creative advertisement using photos, articles and even audio files.

2.) The other big change is that Facebook is now dedicated to tracking real-time events more closely

What does this mean and how will it affect home-builders?

It simply means Facebooks algorithms will now work in the background to help you access information they find most relevant to you at that particular time. The news update now enables Facebook to process information in real time particularly information that is closely related to an update’s engagement and subject.

Facebook will place a status updates higher if;

• They are related to popular or trending topics; for instance, updates about the Grammys when they are being aired or people are talking about them.

• If your user engagement gets into real-time debate such as comments streaming in will help rank your page and updates higher in the Newsfeed.

Does this mean that a house builder must always feature information that is relevant to what is trending at the exact moment?

Not at all; as a house-builder sometimes many of your posts not be that timely or necessarily trending

All you need to do is be up-to-date with what is going on in the current real estate market and n the world at large. Ask yourself what is going on now that can help me communicate more personally to my client base?

This way you will always be relevant.

As a homebuilder trying to reach out to my target market on Facebook, how do I take advantage of this new algorithm?

• The secret is proper prior scheduling to ensure you put out the right posts at the right time. Use a reliable scheduling tool that ensures all the content you post is evergreen and can serve more than once. For instance, how-to-do tips on home repairs will never run out of style.

• Research widely and keep in touch with all the trends in real estate industry and in the home-building industry so that you can create timely posts that address real concerns that your potential customers may have.

What can a homebuilder take away from Facebooks new algorithm updates?

Facebook is now fine tuning its ability to accurately measure real-time signals and this involves paying close attention to limit the visibility of inauthentic updates. This will help you develop a highly visible Facebook Page that appeals to your clientele base, attracts positive attention to increase engagement rates.

This means as you build your page, your focus needs to be on coming up with creative, relevant and informative posts that will authentically increase engagement.