Facebook News, General, Tips & Tricks Facebook Platform Policy changes: Fan gates no more. August 7, 20143 minutes Takin Kroop Today, Facebook released an updated Graph API as well as Platform Policy changes: No more herding fans to your page. What this means, is that you can no longer force people to like your page. With this, we are talking about offering rewards, or gating apps or content based on whether a person has liked a page or not. As Facebook also says – we believe this update will benefit people. No more iPad-giveaways. No more worthless fan-gathering. This update forces marketers to become better people – by making us offering valuable content and making sure people like a page for genuinely wanting to follow it. Not because of some stupid free iPad. You can still ask people to login to your app, check-in at a place or enter a promotion on your app’s Page. [Tweet “No more worthless fan-gathering. This update forces marketers to become better people.”] This update is made to ensure that people like Pages because they want to connect with the brand, not because of artificial incentives. You should make sure your apps are in line with this new policy by November 5th. “You must not incentivize people to use social plugins or to like a Page. This includes offering rewards, or gating apps or app content based on whether or not a person has liked a Page. It remains acceptable to incentivize people to login to your app, check-in at a place or enter a promotion on your app’s Page. To ensure quality connections and help businesses reach the people who matter to them, we want people to like Pages because they want to connect and hear from the business, not because of artificial incentives. We believe this update will benefit people and advertisers alike.” You should focus on delivering value. We believe that the secret to a successful Facebook presence is by paying attention to 4 key factors: Content – you have to present good and valuable content to your fans. This should not be about you or your product. Simply something that you know your fans will apprechiate. Community – dedicate time to build a community around your brand on Facebook. Talk to people – but also listen to them. Delivering great experiences and having an open dialouge is a make-or-break in Facebook-marketing. Market place – when you have offered selfless, valuable content to your community, you can introduce them to your products. Now is the time to show how your products or services can solve their needs. Storytelling – at least but not least: the foundation. People love stories. New York Times shares stories. Buzzfeed shares stories. Your entire friend-list are sharing stories. So why not make yourself relevant to your fans and talk about something they care about? So, to sum it up – this update is not something bad. No: you can not longer force anyone to like your page – and thats good. Because you should be focused on delivering content that gives value without interrupting or asking for something in return. Here’s tips for further reading if you want to learn more about building a community: The perfect balance between engaging and selling on Facebook Everything You Know About Social ROI is Wrong 5 tips on how NOT to look stupid as a brand on social media 5 fast and easy things you should do to optimize your Facebook page today Are you interested in learning more about our secrets? Want to learn more about how to become a Facebook-marketing pro? Talk to us!