Facebook recently announced a major overhaul of its News Feed that impacts how people will see posts.

The new News Feed design features larger photos, links and advertisements. It also allows people to create custom feeds on particular topics like music as well as status updates from close friends. The mobile app’s feed is similar to the updated computer-based version.

Facebook is currently in the process of slowly rolling out it out. You can sign up for it here.

How This Change Impacts Your Business

1. Images & Video Are Very Important

With the change, visual content is going to be more of a priority. Facebook is now giving a huge amount of real estate to images and videos. As an example, when people “Like” your company’s page, your profile picture and Timeline Cover will appear in their News Feed.

For your business, this means you should be regularly posting new images on your Facebook page whether it’s status update images, photo albums or even your Timeline Cover.

You want to do this because it improves your chances of showing up in the News Feeds of your followers.

2. There’s More Competition on the News Feed

The update makes it easy for people to create separate streams on different topics. One might be “Close Friends,” another might be “Companies I follow” or “Bands I like.” The important thing is that people may spend more time on some of these specialized feeds because it’s giving them the information they feel is important to them.

It’s still too early to determine whether people will spend more time on these specialized feeds as opposed to the general one that shows all posts.

What is important is providing information that is relevant to your followers. It improves your chances of getting on a custom News Feed that your followers actually pay attention to.

3. You Can’t Ignore Mobile

The update means that the News Feed will look similar whether you’re on a computer, smartphone or tablet computer.

It’s time to embrace mobile. More and more people are accessing Facebook on smartphones and tablet computers. It’s time you developed content that embraces mobile check-ins and the smaller screens.

How to Optimize Your Content

While Facebook has not released a date when everyone will get the new News Feed, you should start optimizing your content for the update. Here are a few things that you can do.

• Post content that is RELEVANT to your following – If you want people to keep you in their News Feed, post things that are relevant to them. Provide valuable information that informs, entertains and motivates them to share with others.

• Post more pictures and videos – Your posts will take up more screen space if you use images and videos. It’s a way to put your content front and center for your followers.

• Shorten your text postings with photos and videos – The new format now overlays text on photos and videos. Too much text can be hard to read and distracting. Keep text to a sentence or two.

• Regularly update your Timeline Cover – If you’re looking to get attention, regularly update your Timeline Cover. It’s really important now that you can include discounts and call to actions on your covers.

• Encourage mobile check-ins – Mobile check-ins are now more visual on the new News Feed. It’s a great way to grab the attention of followers. Encourage customers to check-in to your business. It’s one Sway to expose your company to others on Facebook.

Following these tips will help you optimize Facebook content. For even more social media marketing tips, follow us by “Liking” the Right On – No Bull Marketing Facebook Page.