As the dust settles and Facebook’s Algorithm changes are felt by marketers on all sides, it’s time to talk about what’s next. While we can reminisce about the days when likes were tripling by the hour and an abundance of user data was right at our fingertips, there’s no use dwelling in the past — so what’s in store for the future?

In PluggedIn BD’s latest roundtable discussion, we asked a collection of top publishers and agencies how they’ve handled the changes and to share a bit on their approach to the future. While there are a lot of uncertainties, there was an overwhelming theme of optimism as we look at a new marketing landscape free from the rule of thumbs.

The Initial Impact

One the first questions posed to our participants was how they had been impacted by the changes so far. This elicited a wide range of responses. For some like Don Steele of Fusion Media Group, the changes have resulted in a double-digit decline in traffic. While dismaying for some, Sarah Gallagher and her team at Flipboard have enjoyed more business opportunities. As she said, “[The change] made people realize this wasn’t a winner take all game and it shouldn’t be.” While we see Facebook’s organic reach continue to suffer, the “pay to play” continues to live on — but is what we’re paying for really worth it?

A Bit of Perspective

The question of value came into play quite often throughout our discussion, and as many noted, true value shouldn’t be measured by the number of likes a piece of content gets. Through the various points of view, here’s what we can deduce: value is established by creating original content, identifying and appreciating your most engaged audiences, diversifying content based on the channel it lives on, taking time to define the metrics that matter and realizing the importance of quality over quantity. For the first time in years, marketers have the opportunity to think about what content they are sharing and why it matters.

The reality is, these changes have given marketers a chance to take a step back and think about value. As Lynn Sladowski of Wavemaker pointed out, for a while, we were living in Facebook’s world and conforming content to the standards they set, but that limits the ways that we can tell our stories — what if you want to tell a longer story? As far as our panel was concerned, now is the time to evaluate and think about what makes sense for your business as time moves on.

How We Move On

One of the most popular topics of discussion was alternatives to Facebook. Matt Crenshaw of Outbrain summed up the overall sentiment of the room when he said, “There is going to be a small march away from Facebook, but it’s not going away entirely — it’s critical to have a diverse mix of traffic sources. And as Adam Shapiro of AlertMe put it, “you should use ‘em all and then see what happens.” Most of the participants agreed that diversifying traffic sources and content is the most important thing companies can do in the present.

Straight From the Table

In closing our discussion, participants were asked to share a few key points on how they believe companies continue to grow their audience and revenue in this new world. Here are their final thoughts:

“There needs to be more communication between players.” – Ned Berke, Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism

“As a former publisher, working with publishers, I’m surprised that publishers don’t push partners harder. If you’re focused on getting lifetime value, ask for it. Publishers need to be a lot more demanding of the non-Facebook partners they’re working with.” –Matt Crenshaw, Outbrain

“Data matters, but relationships matter more — from evaluating new platforms to connecting with users for LTV. With so many publishers and so many choices, helping and curating into a smaller, more intimate conversation will help us make better decisions. We can’t just rely on data — there needs to be a human element on top of it.” –Sarah Gallagher, Flipboard

“Make sure your business practices match up to the objectives you’re trying to drive. So much of the practice in place for publishers and marketers run counter to that. If you line up your business practices, it eliminates noise and allows you to focus on the big picture.” –Anthony Risicato, LinkedIn

“We should ask ourselves: what are we good at and what are we known for and how much of the rest can we stop doing? Take this Facebook upheaval as a time to take a step back and figure out what matters.” –Kia Makarechi, Vanity Fair

“Being bolder and exploring more risk-taking opportunities is key. Investing in AR and interactive video is also important because those things can really change the ecosystem and how we think about content.” –Lynn Sladowski, Wavemaker

“It’s all about how you become essential. You have to become essential. The way you do that is through relevance. That type of engaged audience delivers on CPM and leads to lifetime value.” –Adam Shapiro, AlertMe

“Becoming human is essential. Our publishing network is made up of real people who talk to real people. There aren’t enough real people and too many clickbait pieces.” –Sandia Trent, Cafe Media

“When everything started happening with Facebook, we had a meeting, and quite often the answers we arrived at were: “it just doesn’t work for us.” I encourage everyone to take some time every six months to have a reflective meeting to talk about decisions that were made in the past and whether they could work now. Many people forget to write down the decisions they didn’t make to revisit them in the future.” –Don Steele, formerly of Fusion Media Group

“When we’re thinking about content diversification it’s about looking at the content creators and determining whether or not they have the information they need to bring content to those platforms. Making sure we’re creating the right content for different platforms and diversification between platforms is the most important thing right now.” – Merin Pasternak, Fatherly

Roundtable Participants

Vanity Fair: Kia Makarechi, Director of Audience Development

Wavemaker: Lynn Sladowski, Senior Director

AlertMe: Adam Shapiro, Co-Founder

Cafe Media: Sandia Trent, Senior Director, Revenue Operations

Fusion Media Group: Don Steele, Former SVP of Marketing & Audience Development

Fatherly: Merin Pasternak, Head of Audience Development

Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism: Ned Berke

Outbrain: Matt Crenshaw, Vice President of Global Product Marketing

Flipboard: Sarah Gallagher, Head of Publisher Partnerships

LinkedIn: Anthony Risicato, Head of Global Channel Business

Moderator: Rich Ullman