The social media world has been talking in recent months about the update that Facebook made that has decreased the reach for some pages. The updates seem to be a double-edged sword, as some Facebook pages are reaching a smaller audience, but it seems to be a more engaged, core audience. You see, Facebook’s algorithm is getting smarter. Even if a smaller amount of people see a page’s posts, Facebook knows that they are the fans who are most likely to engage. Facebook has also admitted that Pages will likely need to use some Facebook advertising in conjunction with their current Facebook marketing plan to reach their desired customers. Although this is not a surprise to most of us, it is still a reminder that we need to be continually looking for ways to create engaging content and proactively adapt to changes.
Yes, Facebook Advertising is Becoming More of a Necessity
Facebook advertising can be a great way to boost visibility on posts, attract more fans, and increase engagement. Some small businesses are surprised to learn how advanced the audience targeting is with Facebook Advertising and that it can be done on a small budget. In fact, often the budget is significantly less than what they are paying for traditional print advertising in a newspaper or magazine. That being said, marketers may need to combine Facebook Advertising, with remarkable content, and get more creative to find ways to get their content to organically reach their audience.
How to Increase your Organic Reach in the Facebook Newsfeed
- Take advantage of Facebook’s lifted contest rules. The giveaway doesn’t have to be monetary or big, but establishing a consistent contest that fans will look forward to and share will alter the algorithm and get posts visible.
- Collect more fan photos. Whether you take the photos or your fans submit them, anytime you can “surprise” or “delight” fans with familiar photos, they will get liked, commented, shared. Tagging photos will create more reach.
- Do some friendly cross-promoting. Find some vertical pages to cross promote in a multitude of methods. Share and help each other out by sharing content and mentioning their @Facebookpage. Use Facebook as a page to comment, like, share, tag, use #hashtags, post links and photos, etc. Always try to add something useful to the conversation.
- Use email to directly reach fans. Use permission-based email marketing with Constant Contact and blog sign-ups to achieve a consistent email marketing strategy that compliments your Facebook Marketing.
- Tell your fans why it is important to interact with you on Facebook. If you have fans that love you, but never interact with your page, Facebook algorithms will cause them to see fewer posts. Encourage them to like or comment on posts, talk about your page, post a review, and ask questions. Sometimes it is also helpful to ask a specific question to see if they are seeing certain posts in their newsfeed, or let them know what is coming up on your page so they can watch for it.
- Use hashtags and real time posts from events or things that fans want to know RIGHT NOW or be the FIRST to know. This helps to create anticipation and real time participation.
- Make sure you have social sharing buttons on your blog/website. This often results in fan’s friends seeing what they like’d online (outside of Facebook) and also encourages sharing since it is so easy. Another way to get your Facebook posts in front of blog readers is to embed your most engaging Facebook posts in your blog.
- Review your Facebook posting strategy. Look at your Insights to see if you should be posting at different days/times when more of your fans are online. Consider posting more frequently or adding different media into the mix.
- Change your Facebook Cover image on a regular basis. A fresh cover image could help draw attention to an upcoming event, new product, or just catch attention in the newsfeed with an eye-catching photo.
- Most importantly, focus on creating original content that your audience will love. Create content that speaks your brand’s message and voice, and is relevant to your audience. If you have fantastic evergreen content, don’t be afraid to share it again down the road.
