While we’re not sure it was much of a secret, the lid is off for Facebook. The social media giant has tacitly admitted that it is throttling the organic reach of companies and artists with company and fan pages. In a three page document released in 2013, Facebook claims that the throttling of organic reach is “minimized” by creating high-quality content. According to a 2012-2013 study conducted by 41 29 Agency, the highest quality content, least likely to be throttled in the average user’s newsfeed, is the status update.

Now, when firms are hovering between 10,000 and 1 million fans (which is a lot of marketing real estate), their photos, video shares, etc, are the most likely to be dropped out of the feed, due to Facebook’s algorithm. However, you know (as do we at Shift4Shop) that the best-received posts on Facebook contain art, video, or other non-text content. So, how do you, as an emerging eCommerce company, gain the most earned exposure on Facebook?

Facebook is a publicly traded firm, which means generating income for shareholders has trumped all other concerns. Zuckerberg and company’s plan is to force firms to purchase newsfeed space. To maximize your firm’s earned (free) reach while the social media platform constricts commerce, create newsworthy content, with highly readable text, married to a dynamic photo or a company-generated YouTube video link. Simply finding the latest cute kitten meme and sharing it will not cut it, nor will posting photos of your product, even with well-written descriptions.

You need to think of your Facebook page as part of your blogosphere. What content drives your customers to your website? Linking to that content, with a separate, condensed version (overview) of the link’s content and an original photo is one of the strongest plays you have with Facebook these days. Linking your Facebook feed to your Twitter and Instagram is another way to drive traffic to your Facebook page as well. Another consideration for eCommerce earned marketing is to exploit Google Plus’s free membership and marketing for companies, Twitter’s hashtags on trending articles, and Instagram’s ease of use; integrating all of these social media tools with your Facebook content will drive your virtual marketing in such a way that Facebook’s monetization of the news feed will have less impact your emerging business.