Got a minute? This week's Marketing Minute is all about Facebook's new content penalization announcement.

Earlier this week, Facebook announced that they will penalize Page owners who ask for post engagement through certain calls-to-action (CTAs), such as "Like this post if you agree" or "Share with a friend for a chance to win". Facebook calls these types of posts "engagement bait" — encouraging followers to engage on a post in order to increase reach. In their announcement, Facebook warns that brands who use this tactic will have the total reach of all of their posts reduced. This new penalty, however, will not apply to posts that "ask people for help, advice, or recommendations, such as circulating a missing child report, raising money for a cause, or asking for travel tips."

Our Take:

• Facebook is going to be cracking down on posts that go against their key News Feed value: authenticity. Brands need to be sure that their posts are engaging in their own right without asking for certain types of engagement.
• We recommend taking some time to plan out your 2018 social media strategy with this announcement in mind. These guidelines could make it harder to get your Facebook audience to organically engage with your posts, so make sure you're developing high-quality content for Facebook posts.
• We hope this will serve as a creative challenge for brands on social media to up their content game by coming up with new ways to make their posts worth commenting on.