This story is an extension of this article on the likely impact of Facebook's News Feed change on the small business in Dhaka.
It would have been wonderful if the f-commerce invested in their own platform and brand even before this change. While many small businesses invested in building their own platform or diversifying their business in different online platforms, a majority did not because Facebook is where real traffic is. Most importantly, most people don’t think about the long term. The result - Facebook changes News Feed and you go home.
Having said, there is no point in whining about what had just happened, rather we should look for how we can minimize the damage and move forward. Moreover, Facebook has just introduced the changes and we have to wait to see how these changes are going to affect businesses in reality. It may play out differently for businesses and brands.
For now, here are a few strategies that you can use to wither this momentary setback:
No matter how hard it gets, reach on Facebook will remain critical for businesses for two reasons 1) the size of the platform/audience 2) you have already invested a huge amount in building an audience there. But what you do when organic reach gets difficult? You get creative, says Khandaker Anwar Ehtesham, Head of Communications and Branding at Dhaka Bank:
“This is there and will be even more complex in the coming days. I think the only way out is to be extremely creative with your content. You have to make really differentiated content in order to engage your audience and get organic reach.
Since organic reach has become a challenging affair, it increases the importance of organic reach. Because it is scarce and hard to get.
We have at least some limitation when it comes to designing and executing creative contents on a social media platform. We tend to take the easier route whenever possible. For instance, copying without permission is a common thing. This not only detrimental to your brand, it also degrades the overall ecosystem.”
If you are an f-commerce business, diversify sources of your sales. You can use local ecommerce marketplaces such as Ajkerdeal and a few others to get businesses and improve your sales.
The biggest mistake most people make on Facebook is that they don’t invest in creating a differentiated identity, as a result, they fail to build a loyal customer base. This applies beyond Facebook as well.
Focus on building your brand no matter which platform you use and invest in building a lasting relationship with your customers. These things sustain even when a platform pulls the rug from under your feet.
Going back to the customer is the ultimate solution. Find out ways how you can help your customers by providing them useful content, tips, and ideas. Invest in content that you can run on different platforms as well as use on Facebook to engage your audience.
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I hope these ideas help. We are trying to figure out more ways for small businesses that they can use to wither this challenge, if you have an idea, please send to our way at [email protected]
