For businesses that rely heavily on Facebook and Instagram to promote products, share news/blogs, take registrations, share events or direct customers to useful information, it’s a timely reminder to look at how much of your marketing depends on a platform you don’t control.

Here’s what’s happening, what it could mean for your business, and a few practical things worth considering.

What’s changing with Facebook business links?

RNZ has reported on Meta testing restrictions on the number of external links some Facebook Business Pages can publish in organic content (the normal, unpaid posts you publish to your Facebook Page, rather than paid advertising), with affected Pages being prompted towards paid subscription options to share links.

The restrictions rollout means non-verified business pages can only share two external links per month. If you want more, you’ll need a new Meta One account.  

Put simply, an external link is a link that takes someone away from Facebook to another website, such as:

• Your business website
• An online shop
• An event or registration page
• A booking system
• A newsletter sign-up
• An industry or partner website

For businesses accustomed to including a website link with most Facebook posts, a restriction on organic links would represent a significant change.

Organic reach was already something businesses needed to think carefully about. Our previous guidance noted that relying solely on organic Facebook and Instagram content was no longer a strong customer-acquisition strategy. However, organic posts do still have an important role in helping prospective customers research a business and understand its people, products and personality.

How could Facebook link limits affect your business?

The impact will depend on how you currently use Facebook. If your Page is largely about brand awareness, photos, videos, business updates and conversations, the change may require relatively little adjustment.

But if Facebook is one of your main ways of moving customers from social media to your website, it deserves more attention.

Think about a typical month and how often you post links to:

• A new product or service
• Online bookings
• An upcoming event
• A job vacancy
• An article or business update
• An online store or special offer
• A form, registration page or other resource

For a small business those links can form an important part of the customer journey.

The same issue is particularly relevant to sports clubs, charities and community organisations, which may use Facebook as an inexpensive communications hub for registrations, events, fixtures, fundraising and other regular updates.

Don’t panic. Do review your marketing mix

The bigger lesson here isn’t necessarily whether your business should pay for a Meta subscription.

It’s about not putting all your marketing eggs in someone else’s basket.

Facebook, Instagram, (Meta), LinkedIn, Tik Tok and other social platforms can be valuable ways to reach people. These sites still provide an opportunity to understand client needs, develop professional relationships, showcase expertise and identify potential leads.

But the platforms set the rules. Algorithms change. Features change. Advertising costs change. And, as these latest developments demonstrate, what you can do for free can change too.

Your website, customer database and email marketing channels, on the other hand, give you a much more direct relationship with your audience.

Five things NZ businesses should consider now

1. Work out how dependent you are on Facebook

Have a look at your recent Facebook activity. How many posts are designed primarily to send people somewhere else? And how important is Facebook in generating traffic, enquiries, registrations or sales? What does your data say?

Understanding your starting point will help you decide whether these changes are a minor inconvenience or something that requires a rethink.

2. Make your website work harder

Social media should support your digital presence, rather than be your digital presence.

Make sure your website clearly answers the questions prospective customers have, is easy to navigate on mobile, provides obvious ways to make contact and gives people a reason to come back. A good rule of thumb is – can someone new to your website navigate their way to the information they need easily in the first eight seconds or fewer?

3. Build channels you control

If Facebook disappeared tomorrow, how would you talk to your customers? Consider how you are building your email database, customer relationships and direct channels alongside your social followers.

The goal isn’t to leave social media. It’s to reduce your reliance on any single platform. Diversity of channel, campaign and tactics is important.

4. Be more deliberate with organic content

If external links become a scarcer resource, every Facebook post doesn’t need one. Some of your best social content may be content people can consume without leaving the platform: useful tips, photographs, short videos, team stories, customer information and business updates.

Think value first, link second.

5. Consider paid social based on the business case, not because you feel forced into it

Organic social and paid advertising do different jobs. 

If your objective is to reach a defined new audience or generate enquiries, paid social may already deserve a place in your marketing mix. Our previous guidance made the same distinction: Organic content remains useful, but businesses looking at customer acquisition should consider paid advertising rather than relying solely on organic posts.

But don't automatically subscribe to something simply because a free feature has become restricted.

Start with the commercial question: What are we trying to achieve, what is that outcome worth, and which channel gives us the best chance of achieving it?

What about Facebook Stories, Instagram and other Meta tools?

It’s worth looking beyond the traditional Facebook organic feed when planning content. The whole goal with their new paid model is to keep people on the platform. So, Facebook Events, Groups, Stories, Marketplace etc don’t (currently) carry this restriction.

Exactly which features are affected by Meta's latest testing may continue to evolve, so businesses should check the options presented within their own Meta account rather than assume the experience will be identical for every Page.

The bigger question: Are you renting your audience?

Facebook remains a useful marketing and communication platform. But these changes reinforce something we’ve been saying for some time: Social media works best as part of your marketing mix, not as the whole marketing strategy.

Your followers aren't the same thing as a customer database and your Facebook Page isn't the same thing as your website.

The businesses in the strongest position will be those that use social platforms to build awareness and relationships, while also creating direct connections with customers through channels they have greater control over.

So rather than asking, “How do we get around Facebook’s new rules?”, perhaps ask, “If Facebook changes the rules again tomorrow, can our marketing still do its job?” If the answer is “not really”, now might be a good time to make a plan.

• (Disclaimer – drafted in Copilot, reviewed and edited by a real human with marketing qualifications)
• Sarah Ellem is the Marketing Manager at Baker Tilly Staples Rodway Taranaki