Why PR practitioners should care about Facebook’s click bait change

(You won’t believe how Facebook’s recent change will affect you…)

^See what we did there?

That sigh you heard on Monday was the sound of PR professionals everywhere rejoicing at Facebook’s new “click bait” changes. Finally, content will reach more people due to quality writing, and not because of teasing, deceptive headlines often ending in an ellipsis. Sure, this is another change to Facebook’s frequent algorithm changes, but this is one content creators can get behind because it will impact how brand content is distributed.

At Hodges, we talk a lot about PR being more than media relations. Over the years the profession has evolved and taken the lead in several areas that were once left to our marketing brothers and sisters, such as content creation, social media strategy and lead generation.

Before I go on, let’s make sure we’re all on the same page when it comes to click bait. In the simplest terms, click baiting can be defined as any content designed specifically to gain attention or encourage others to click on a link but usually does not give much information about what the content is beyond the link. It’s an approach some brands use to show a high number of clicks.

After watching behaviors, Facebook’s analytics indicated that people were likely not happy with what they found when they fell for click baiting. Facebook landed at this conclusion based on the time people spent away from Facebook after clicking on the link. If the time was greater, then it showed that the content was valuable. If the person quickly returned to Facebook, then, more than likely, the person was not satisfied with what they found.

So, why should you, a PR practitioner, be happy with these changes? Finally, those hours spent creating editorial calendars with compelling, honest content will now outrank the click-bait links that get a high frequency of clicks, but deliver little value to the person clicking.

And what should you be doing to maximize Facebook’s algorithm configuration? Approach Facebook from the user’s point of view. Your friends aren’t click-baiting you with their recent beach photos, are they? They’re not hiding links to articles they’re sharing. So, neither should you.

To provide value to your brand’s audience post relevant, educational and entertaining content that entices a user to want to click on your easy-to-find link. By doing this, your content will reach more eyes and make a greater impact.

Were you happy to hear about the click bait changes? Have you been waiting for Facebook to do something about this? Comment below.

(Image by: CNET)