The deceptive practice that some marketers are using where they post a static linked image that appears to be a video is finally getting the punishment it deserves. The latest Facebook News Feed algorithm update specifically penalizes these types of images because of the fact that they are deceptive, and that they often take (or attempt to take) people off of the Facebook page.
The concept is pretty basic. A marketer puts an image that will draw people’s curiosity, and then places the ‘play’ triangle over it so people think that clicking it will start the video.
They may add in a headline or other content to further entice the click. Once the consumer makes the click, however, they are brought to another page where there may or may not be a video at all.
While it can be effective, it is not the type of honest marketing that Facebook wants to encourage.
On a blog post from Facebook about this update, it was said, “During the coming weeks we will begin demoting stories that feature fake video play buttons and static images disguised as videos in News Feed.”
It is actually somewhat surprising that it has taken them so long to implement this change since this practice has been going on for so long. Regardless of that, any marketers still using this deceptive practice will want to reevaluate their strategies going forward.
