As part of the Facebook Journalism Project, the company issued a brief guide explaining the methods for the appearance of news content published by media organisations and news publishers on users’ news feed. The brief guide included some useful tips for media organisations that explain the ways and methods in which these organisations can obtain financial returns from publishing their content on Facebook platform, which can be summarized as follows:
Visits through referral
Through this method, publishers share the links to the news published on their website through their Facebook page. The more people share this content on the platform, the more people visit the website through “referral”. This will increase the possibility of generating revenue from the ads published on the website. Although social media has become an essential part of the site promotion tools used by publishers, global statistics in 2019 say that the total traffic that publishers receive from social media is just over 10%. But of course, this percentage varies significantly from one region to another.
How does the publisher benefit? The publisher owns and controls all financial transactions and advertisements on their website, so more traffic means more direct income from ads posted on the website.
Instant articles
It is a special tool that Facebook offers to publishers to publish content directly to their pages on the social platform (instead of the traditional method of posting on the website and sharing the link on Facebook). The company says that this method allows articles to open more quickly, and allows the reader to view more of the publisher’s work in the same reading session.
How does the publisher benefit? The company says that the user has a much better experience when using this method, and that there is a significant increase in content distribution using this method compared to the mobile web method. An increase in distribution rates can lead to a similar increase in profit, as the publisher can sell the ads themselves, or rely on Facebook to provide ads and thus share revenue.
Subscriptions
A free reader can directly become a subscriber through Paywall, the tool provided by instant article systems, and free marketing tools can help drive and attract more leads through email campaigns or newsletters. From within the Instant Articles tool, it is possible to limit the number of articles that a visitor can view for free before being asked to subscribe in exchange for a sum of money to read more content.
How does the publisher benefit? The publisher controls 100% of the money they make through the subscription as this mechanism provides a direct relationship between the publisher and the customer.
Facebook videos and embedded ads
If a publisher places the video directly on the Facebook platform, and does not share a link to one of the video hosting platforms or a link to the publisher’s original website, they are often eligible to include ads within
their video content.
How does the publisher benefit? Publishers can build a large fan base by displaying attractive videos and get the majority of the revenue that comes from the ads that are embedded within the video.
Facebook ads
Businesses and people around the world use Facebook ads to reach customers, market their products, and increase their sales. For news publishers, advertisements can help reach wider audiences and sell the products they offer. This means that the publisher pays Facebook to promote their content and brand, but if used wisely, the publisher can often benefit from increased visits and increased advertising revenue for their own.
To read the full guide:
