Have you heard the news?

Facebook is changing it’s algorithm…again.

Yes, it’s true. Yet again, the “Social Network” is shoving brands’ content down to the bottom of the stack, and instead pushing updates from your friends and family to the top of the heap.

If you’ve spent thousands of dollars building up your Facebook audience, the panic might be setting in right about now.

The truth is, there’s no need to panic at all. Here’s why:

1. “Content is King” is Still the #1 Rule

The governing principle of content marketing has always been “Content is King”. And that hasn’t changed.

Yes, you have to get a little more creative in the way you get your readers’ eyes on your content… but the #1 rule still holds true, regardless of Facebook’s new algorithm.

Instead of letting panic set in, focus on creating high-quality, helpful, and engaging content, and your customers will “Like”, Share, and comment left and right. And when they do that, your posts get front and center in the rest of their friends’ news feeds.

2. Likes don’t matter. Engagement Does.

You might be surprised at the number of clients that have to start over after an agency sold them on building a large community (rather than an engaged one).

There are so many problems with that strategy, especially since Facebook can, and does, change they way they serve up content to your community.

But more importantly, as smart marketers, we know that the most effective marketing strategy is building an army of living, breathing brand-advocates who are personally connected to and engaging with our brand.

When someone engages with your Facebook page, all their friends and family know about it instantly. Essentially, Facebook is forcing us to become even better marketers by focusing less on vanity metrics, and more on the things that do matter– actually building one-on-one personal relationships with our fans.

Those are the two simple reasons why there’s no need to panic. And at the end of the day, Facebook’s algorithm change is actually a good thing for us marketers! It forces us to focus even harder on the 2 things that do matter: creating content that actually helps our audience, and building a personal, meaningful relationship with each and every one of them.