Keep Up

Meta has started limiting how many links a Facebook Business Page can share for free. Under its new Meta One subscription, free pages can include links in two organic posts or comments a month. RNZ reports that unlimited links on the top plan cost NZ$883 a month. The rollout began on 15 September and is gradual, so not every page has seen it yet.

Meta isn’t charging every business simply to have a page or post ordinary content. Photos, videos and customer engagement aren’t affected, and links to Instagram or Threads don’t count. It has put a price on one job: sending people to your website.

The headlines are loud. Here’s the calm version.

Social media has two jobs

1. Drive people to your website. That means sharing links to fresh content, products and promotions.
2. Show you’re still in business. That means promoting your people, key messages, successes and community work. It’s everything about your business that people won’t see as quickly on your website.

Most small businesses won’t feel this much

Most small businesses aren’t using the link option properly anyway. They should be. If your page is mostly photos and captions that point nowhere, this change barely touches you. It’s also a nudge to fix the gap.

Some owners will feel it. RNZ’s technology correspondent Bill Bennett warned that the cost could hit owner-operators hard, and a Canterbury retailer said he’ll stop putting direct links on his posts. Both reactions are understandable. Neither is the only option.

If you do share links properly, you still have good options

• Work within the free allowance. You get two posts with links a month. If you post 8–10 times a month, or 2–3 times a week, that balance suits you. Two link posts carry your traffic. The rest of your posts do job two.
• Use a paid plan when it counts. RNZ lists Meta One plans at NZ$88 a month for eight links, NZ$265 for twenty, and NZ$883 for unlimited. For a promotion or a busier marketing period, the eight-link plan is the one to look at. The NZ$26 Essential plan keeps the same two-link limit, so it won’t help here.
• Keep using Meta Adverts. They’re still a strong way to put your important content in front of a wider audience across Meta’s channels.
• Don’t count on the comment trick. Dropping a link into the comments still counts toward your limit.

Don’t forget what sits outside social

There’s plenty beyond Facebook, and most of it is cheaper:

• Google My Business posts are free to use.
• Email campaigns keep your database informed, and they cost very little for small lists.
• Networking builds relationships in your local community or industry groups. It’s also cheap if you use it well.
• Partnering with other businesses lets you share marketing costs.

Mark Knoff-Thomas, CEO of Auckland’s Newmarket Business Association, told RNZ that owning your assets, your customer database and your email list is the best thing a business can do. Your website and your email list are yours. Facebook’s rules aren’t, and they change.

The upside

Meta has been an easy, free platform that most small businesses haven’t used strategically. A price on links makes every post answer one question: what is this for?

That’s the question a Marketing Plan answers. It gives every piece of your marketing a job, so you know which two link posts earn their place this month and which channels carry the rest. It’s the starting point for our strategic marketing services. Once you have the plan, you can outsource the delivery to a marketing manager, or run it in-house with the Lit AI Marketing Assistant, which is built from your plan.

Want a Marketing Plan that gets a better return on your marketing investment? Book a discovery session here.