10 Tips To Get Your Music News & Content Into Facebook’s Top News Feed

Since Facebook separated its News Feed into Top News and Most Recent, it's become really important to get into the Top News feed which is the default and where you're most likely to be seen. If not, despite all the fans who liked your account or your band's Facebook Page, much of what you do is likely to go unnoticed. And that means that learning more about EdgeRank, the algorithm which decides who's in and who's out, is key to marketing your music on Facebook.

In a white paper released earlier this year, Facebook's EdgeRank: How to Make Sure You're in the News Feed, Buddy Media shares ten tips for getting your content in Top News, from show announcements to MP3 downloads:

"Overall, EdgeRank is based on three factors: affinity, weight and relevancy. When multiplied together, they have the ability to push your content to the News Feed's 'Top News,' where fans will be able to see what your brands has to say. For instance, an image with dozens of Comments will have a higher affinity score than a status update with a few 'Likes." In addition, an object's relevancy will help determine how high it will appear within the 'Top News.'"

10 Tips Music Marketers Should Keep in Mind:

1 – Ask Questions

2 – Post Games and Trivia

3 – Interact with Fan Engagement

4 – Incorporate Wall Sapplets (such as coupons and polls)

5 – Incorporate Relevant Photos

6 – Relate to Current Events

7 – Incorporate Videos

8 – Post Content for Time-Sensitive Campaigns

9 – Include Links within Posts

10 – Be Explicit in Your Posts

As those of you involved with Search Engine Optimization will note, most of these tips are focused on getting fans to exhibit behavior that will cue an increase in EdgeRank, which is very different than the kinds of things search engines typically notice, such as frequency of keywords. It's a different game and, in many ways, a much more positive game in that it builds on providing fans with content that is timely and interesting, interacting with fans and encouraging fans to interact with each other. And that's a lot more fun and relevant to your music than figuring out how to awkwardly jam sentences full of keywords!

This study builds on previous Buddy Media reports including Strategies for Effective Facebook Wall Posts: A Statistical Review discussed previously at Hypebot. The Edgerank study has more detailed discussion of each tip and can be downloaded for free. In all cases, posting interesting relevant content that encourages fans to interact and then joining in those interactions is the key to success.

Hypebot contributor Clyde Smith is a freelance writer and blogger. Flux Research is his business writing hub and All World Dance: World Dance News is his primary web project.