Facebook Professional Mode is a recent Facebook feature for professional content creators.
It is targeted at those users who want to use Facebook for professional purposes but prefer not to make their more personal posts visible to everyone.
In this week’s episode of the Building a Modern Employer Brand podcast, I’ll tell you about this new Facebook feature that I switched on too for my professional content. Facebook promises it will maximise the reach of our professional content on Facebook without compromising the “privacy” of those posts intended for friends only.
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About Professional Mode: Meta is launching new ways for professional creators to grow their reach and make money on Facebook
Meta has big plans for creators and has been testing and launching new ways for creators to earn money for the content they create on Facebook and Instagram.
This is a direct quote from Facebook:
Professional mode gives you access to a bundle of professional tools, monetization products (if you’re eligible) and safety features that can help you build your professional presence and a global community from your personal profile. Turning on professional mode doesn’t create a separate profile.
The Professional mode was launched in the US end of October last year (2022).
It is now available – to my understanding – to everyone. I was able to switch it on. If someone far away in Finland can get a new Facebook feature, you should too!
Facebook Professional Mode is similar to Instagram’s creator and business profiles
Facebook Professional mode sets your personal Facebook profile in a professional mode. It is the same when you change your Instagram profile into a creator or business profile.
And before you get anxious, unlike Instagram, on Facebook, you can still post content that is shown only to your friends and family like before.
The added value comes here. When you have the professional mode switched on and share some of your content with the public, you have an opportunity to reach new audiences for your work content.
In other words, if you have professional content and want to share it with everyone, the professional mode is the way to go.
The professional mode was designed for professional content creators making it easier to grow our professional reach on Facebook without running multiple profiles.
You still get to maintain your personal profile but add the professional element.
Updated Facebook algorithm supports the new creator mode
Some of you might be concerned that your personal experience with your friends and families on Facebook will suffer.
Meta promises the professional mode will not change anything for your friends and families.
Like most social media platforms, also Meta has made updates to the Facebook algorithm.
Engagement with the content posted continues to be the key element.
The algorithm increasingly shows people the content they stop to see, react to, click through, and comment on.
Meta now views engagement separately from two sources: connected and unconnected distribution of content.
Two types of content distribution models in the Facebook algorithm
- Connected distribution essentially refers to showing your posts to those you are connected with, your Facebook friends.
But as you probably know by now. We don’t get to see all posts from all of our connections. The algorithm sorts the posts what we see on our personal feeds based on which followers tend to engage with our content.
And this remains the core audience on Facebook. - Unconnected distribution is the new thing.
It seems to work the same as on Instagram, where the platform pushes your content to non-followers who follow and engage with the kind of content you create.
Those Facebook posts you’ve chosen to share publicly are seen by users who don’t follow you but may be interested in your content based on their behavior.
Unconnected distribution can also come through other people sharing and resharing your public posts or from Facebook’s recommendations in the “Suggested for you” section.
According to Social Media Today, both types of engagement have existed for years on Facebook.
However, since we have always considered Facebook a personal and, funnily enough, more of a private social media, which it has never been, who has used the public share?
I mean, I have used it occasionally when over the years, I have posted work-related content. But I never really considered sharing work-related content on my Facebook profile because I considered it as the platform I engage with people I know on a more personal level.
There was no reason for me to blast anything on the public share option because it didn’t mean anything additional to me.
But now it does.
Now the Facebook algorithm treats differently content shared with the public, the unconnected distribution.
This will help us professional creators maximize our reach by suggesting our public content for those unconnected Facebook users who, based on their platform behavior, seem to engage with similar other content.
Facebook algorithm applies AI-recommended content
Meta has announced they will emphasise the unconnected distribution, as in the content being suggested to people who are not following you but have shown to engage with the kind of content you create.
They plan to double the amount of AI-recommended content in our Facebook feeds by the end of this year.
This means that Facebook plans to drive user feeds increasingly with AI-recommended content from across Instagram and Facebook.
The content shared by our friends will continue to be an essential part of our Facebook and Instagram experience. Meta will now supplement that with AI-recommended content from unconnected users.
Furthermore, I’ve read that the importance of the follower count decreases and the importance of reach increases.
The algorithm will push your creator content for new audiences likely to engage with it.
I know this may not sound great for those who continue to want to keep Facebook more of a personal platform. But the way I understand this, this changes nothing for those of you.
If you are worried, explore episode 132 where I gave tips on how to teach the algorithm what you want to see on your feed.
The benefits of the Professional Mode
Let’s conclude this episode with the benefits of the Facebook Professional Mode for us content creators.
First, we can now grow our reach on Facebook to audiences we are not connected with.
When we publish content, we choose the public setting to share it with the public instead of sharing it with friends only.
Secondly, we don’t have to create and maintain two separate profiles on Facebook, one for work and one for personal use. Yet we can still publish content only for our friends’ eyes too.
Other benefits include:
- Access to a bundle of professional tools, which I’m not sure yet what all that consists of
- Monetisation products, but we need to be eligible for those to get them. However, it’s a cool thing to be able to get paid for content creation on this platform! YouTube has been the only social media offering this to regular content creators. Interesting to discover what this means on Facebook.
- Safety features that are important when you tap into audiences you don’t know and those who don’t know you.
- Ability to create a public following aside from your personal following.
- A professional dashboard for analytics
- Better discovery by adding a profile category to help people find you on Facebook
- Unlimited followers for the public side of your profile
- Turning on the professional mode does not change the visibility of all of your posts. For each post, you choose who can see it.
However, the professional mode is currently not compatible with Meta Business Suite or the creator studio, which is a bummer.
Do you want to switch on the Professional Mode? Check out this blog post with instructions and recommendations on how to get started.
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Hi, I’m the host of this podcast, and my name is Susanna Rantanen. I am known as the pioneer of employer branding in my native Finland. I have podcasted on employer branding and other talent marketing since June 2017.
In addition to hosting this podcast, my husband Leo and I own the leading employer branding agency in Finland. At Emine, we help our clients build their Magnetic Employer Brands and apply modern content and social media marketing to become known as magnetic employers.
I also coach HR Industry professionals on how to use branding, marketing and communications in their work and for their career development. Do not hesitate to connect and contact me if you are looking for a personal marketing coach!