by Are you struggling to get your content seen on Facebook? Wondering how Meta's algorithm has changed?
Learn the content formats, posting strategies, and engagement techniques that are driving organic reach on Facebook today.
Why Facebook Still Matters for Marketers in 2025
Despite the rise of newer platforms, Facebook continues to hold its crown as the world's largest social network, with over 3 billion monthly active users. When considering the entire family of Meta apps, that number grows to approximately 3.3 billion daily active users.
“Facebook is alive and kicking,” explains Mari Smith, a leading Facebook marketing expert. She dismisses common misconceptions about the platform being “for old people” or “dead,” noting that organic reach is experiencing a remarkable resurgence thanks to significant changes in how Facebook distributes content.
The New Discovery Engine: A Game-Changer for the Organic Reach in Your Facebook Marketing Strategy
Facebook has fundamentally shifted from a friend-based to an interest-based algorithm, similar to TikTok's model. Up to 50% of the content users now see in their feeds comes from what Facebook calls “unconnected sources” – accounts they don't follow. This means the size of your following no longer determines your content's potential reach – someone with 500 followers has the same opportunity for viral content as someone with 5 million followers.
This shift has proven remarkably successful, with Facebook seeing an 8% increase in time spent on the platform.
#1: Creating Effective Organic Content for Facebook's New Algorithm
Short-Form Video (Reels)
Videos up to 90 seconds that share educational and inspirational content typically perform better than promotional material.
The first three seconds are crucial for capturing attention, so creators must develop a compelling hook that immediately grabs viewers' interest. Then, you should focus on a single point rather than trying to pack multiple messages into one video. Avoid being too product-focused in your videos. Instead, showcase staff members and customers to humanize your brand.
Pro Tip: While Facebook initially lagged behind Instagram in short-form video features, it has made significant improvements, though Facebook's native creation tools still aren't entirely on par with Instagram's. You may find it helpful to create your reels in Instagram's native creator and cross-post them to Facebook.
Image Posts
Single-image posts remain effective when properly optimized.
Smith recommends using a 4:5 aspect ratio (slightly taller than square) for optimal feed presentation. She also advises placing links in the first comment rather than the post to improve reach, though she notes that this feature isn't yet available in Meta Business Suite for scheduling.
To stand out in increasingly AI-dominated feeds, Smith suggests using real images rather than AI-generated visuals.
Pro Tip: When cross-posting from Instagram, adjust your captions to remove references to features that don't work on Facebook, such as removing “swipe” instructions for carousel posts since they appear differently on the platform.
Color Background Posts
In Smith's experience with her students, text-based posts with colorful backgrounds have performed remarkably well. The bright colors help them stand out in the feed, while the text format often receives preferential treatment from the algorithm.
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She recommends incorporating these posts once or twice weekly, framing the content as questions, or creating highly shareable content that encourages immediate engagement.
The key to success with these posts lies in creating content that hooks people's minds and stops them in their tracks.
Text-Only Posts
Smith has observed interesting patterns with text-only posts on the platform. Long-form text tends to perform better on pages than on personal profiles, while very short text can also perform exceptionally well.
Stories
While Stories don't benefit from the discovery engine, they maintain a prominent position at the top of the feed. Smith identifies them as “one of the most underutilized top-of-mind, top of feed, visibility, awareness, reach tools.” They are an excellent way to test new content ideas and maintain consistent visibility with existing followers.
Live Video
Live video is experiencing a resurgence, particularly for specific types of content. Smith notes that businesses focusing on arts and crafts demonstrations, cooking shows, DIY content, screen sharing, and educational content are seeing strong results with live streaming.
She predicts an uptick in live shopping features, inspired by the success of platforms like Whatnot, suggesting that businesses should prepare to capitalize on this emerging trend.
#2: Facebook Insights: Understanding Facebook's New Analytics
Facebook has replaced impressions with a new unified “views” metric for all content types. The most significant change is how views are counted – content now registers a view after just one millisecond of exposure, even if users only see a thumbnail in their feed. This represents a dramatic shift from previous metrics, where video views required three seconds of watch time.
While this change might show inflated numbers compared to previous metrics, looking deeper into your analytics will yield valuable insights.
Smith advises monitoring retention graphs for engagement data and paying close attention to non-follower metrics in Meta Business Suite.
Perhaps most importantly, she identifies private message shares as “a number one indicator of potential greater reach,” suggesting that content shared through direct messages often receives preferential treatment from the algorithm.
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Posting Strategy and Performance
Regarding post-performance, Smith strongly advises against deleting underperforming posts, noting that content can gain traction later due to the discovery engine. She also suggests that posting times have become less critical for global audiences, though local businesses might still benefit from posting during their target time zone's peak hours. The key is understanding your specific audience and optimizing your post cadence accordingly.
#3: Professional Mode and Personal Profiles
Professional Mode offers an alternative to traditional business pages, providing users with access to detailed metrics and a professional dashboard.
Users can schedule posts through mobile devices and access the boost button for paid promotion. The feature also offers potential monetization opportunities and allows for unlimited public followers while maintaining private connections.
One unique aspect is access to special layout features for multiple photos, which aren't available on standard business pages.
Special Layout Features
An often overlooked feature available on personal profiles is the ability to create attractive layouts with multiple photos, frames, and colors. This offers a unique way for individuals using professional Mode to present their content more engagingly.
These layout options allow the creative presentation of multiple images in a single post, with customizable frames and color schemes to help content stand out in the feed.
#4: Meta's AI Integration
Meta has extensively integrated AI throughout the Facebook platform, beginning with automated comment summaries.
This feature provides quick overviews of long discussion threads, similar to how Amazon summarizes product reviews. Users can quickly grasp lengthy conversations' general sentiment and key points without reading every comment.
Meta is also testing AI-modified images featuring users' faces, though Smith expresses some privacy concerns about these features. She shares an example of a client who discovered Facebook had modified an old childhood photo, adding shoes and changing the background. While many users enjoy using Meta AI to create profile pictures with various effects, Smith suggests maintaining authenticity in your visual presence on the platform.
AI Features for Advertisers
For advertisers, Meta has implemented several sophisticated AI-enhanced tools.
The platform now offers copywriting assistance that can generate multiple versions of ad text from just a few keywords, allowing advertisers to test different messaging approaches efficiently.
Image enhancement capabilities enable advertisers to place products in different contexts. However, Smith notes that the platform currently doesn't allow the creation of AI-generated images from scratch within the Ads Manager.
The Advantage Plus feature represents perhaps the most significant AI integration for advertisers. This tool works similarly to the discovery engine for organic content, allowing advertisers to suggest their target audience while enabling the AI to identify additional potential customers beyond their initial targeting parameters. This helps advertisers reach previously untapped markets that might be interested in their products or services.
#5: Marketing Strategy Implementation for 2025
Success on Facebook in 2025 requires a sophisticated content creation and distribution approach. Smith emphasizes the importance of creating content that people want to share in private messages, as these shares serve as powerful signals to the algorithm. She suggests crafting content with such clear value that users feel compelled to share it privately with friends who might benefit from the information.
Following Gary Vaynerchuk's advice, Smith recommends experimenting with broader content topics while maintaining your core niche expertise. Stories provide an excellent platform for testing new content types with minimal risk, as they disappear after 24 hours. Marketers can identify which content types and topics resonate with broader audiences by carefully monitoring non-follower reach and engagement.
Cross-platform content requires thoughtful adaptation. When sharing content across Instagram and Facebook, Smith advises taking time to modify captions and adjust formatting to match each platform's unique features and user expectations. For example, carousel posts that work well on Instagram must be reformatted for Facebook, where the feature isn't available for organic posts.
The foundation of successful Facebook marketing in 2025 remains authentic, human-centered content. Despite the platform's increasing AI capabilities, Smith notes that real, genuine content may become even more valuable as users become saturated with AI-generated material. She encourages marketers to balance utilizing new technologies and preserving the authentic human connections that drive meaningful engagement.
Looking ahead, Smith suggests that marketers should prepare for continued evolution in Facebook's features and algorithms. She emphasizes the importance of staying adaptable and maintaining a diverse content mix across all available formats. Marketers can maximize their organic reach and engagement on the platform by understanding and utilizing each content type's unique strengths while maintaining authenticity.
Mari Smith is a leading expert on Facebook marketing and author of The New Relationship Marketing. She helps small and medium-sized businesses master organic Facebook marketing through consulting, training, and coaching. Connect with Mari on Facebook and Instagram.
Other Notes From This Episode
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