In the ever-changing world of digital content marketing, one announced change by Facebook last year caused a lot of publishers to get their knickers in a twist on how it would affect their traffic and earnings.
Facebook instant articles – a new device launched by the world-renowned tech company promises to make the user experience on their native mobile app even more seamless with articles shared on the social media site now stored locally on Facebook servers meaning no waiting around for an external website to load.
In essence, this means going forward that articles written by your favourite news brands (Buzzfeed et al have already adopted this change) will now be hosted on Facebook, pre-loaded on your news feed meaning when you click on a news story, you will be taken to the link instantaneously (and we mean that literally).
The logic behind this change from Facebook HQ is that with a lot of potential leads and visitors to websites being lost because people simply ‘give up’ when waiting for an article to load from the Facebook platform, people will be more encouraged to click now knowing that they will be taken directly to the article without any of the hassle.
Why are publishers flustered?
For many sceptics, Facebook instant articles is simply seen as a means to maximise revenues on its own site without any regard for the publishers that have spent billions in advertising promoting its own content over the years.
Technically now, publishers’ user bases, user bases of which they have invested heavily in and worked hard on daily to maintain, will now be reading their content within Facebook itself, raising all sorts of questions such as:
“How can I make money if people aren’t even visiting my site any more?”
“Isn’t this just a ploy to keep users on Facebook longer and thus generate higher revenues for yourselves?”
“Is it even worth bothering investing in Facebook traffic referrals anymore and has the £XXX amount spent in the last few years a complete waste of money?”
What have Facebook done to alleviate concerns?
It’s not all bad news for publishers. First and foremost, Facebook have promised that publishers will keep 100% of the advertising revenue generated on all instant articles. Publishers can also bring their own native advertising to their articles or use Facebook’s own network of advertisers and take 70% of the cut.
A number of publishers have already taken an early adoption of Facebook instant articles including Buzz Feed (arguably the pioneers of Facebook content marketing) and the Daily Mail and as far as we know, there have been no complaints from them as of yet. In fact, some publishers have even reported higher CPMs (amount of revenue per 1000 page views) on Facebook instant articles as opposed to their own mobile apps and/or websites.
With adblocker also continuing to become a nuisance on both desktop and mobile browsers, Facebook instant articles would also have the added benefit of bypassing this.
Whilst Facebook does impose a slightly strict advertising limit of one advert for every 350 words produced (it was originally 500 until publishers called for more lenience), the number of extra clicks gained from instant articles may be able to counteract this, thus providing a better experience for everyone.
What advice would we give publishers?
Go with the flow. If you’re not ready to move everything over to Facebook instant articles just yet then that’s just fine.
The key is not to panic. Remember – the revenues generated from publishers and agencies alike are the lifeblood of Facebook these days and they are very much aware of that. Building a device such as instant articles which alienates publishers just wouldn’t be good for business, so don’t fret and make the transition when you’re good and ready.
Interested in seeing what LSM can do for your sports brand? We provide content, link building and social media services to a range of top clients in the industry as well as consultancy. Drop us a line at info@liquidsportsmedia.co.uk and let us know how we can help you!