Facebook is a platform that is still relevant when it comes to business building. This post will talk about ways to improve your organic reach on Facebook pages so that you can stay in touch with your audience.
Let's start with a definition of Facebook reach. Facebook reach is the number of unique individuals who saw your posts on Facebook.
It’s a metric that affects your engagement, likes, clicks and so on. Why? You might ask... If people don’t see your posts, they can’t do anything.
Facebook has practically obliterated organic reach for pages and posts. However all is not lost.
Consider that there is a way to gain at least some traction and things you can do to engage and maintain any new fans going forward.
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The Good Ole' Days
In the beginning when many people had no idea what to do on Facebook, or any social media site for that matter, we had no idea what we had.
Free, organic traffic to our content was the norm. We could friend someone and they would see all of our posts. We basically had free organic reach on Facebook.
We could post something on our Facebook page and all our fans would see it. It was easy to grow your following because it was really a following.
Then the changes happened and all that went away. Now we understand what we should have understood then, but now we are only receiving about 1% reach. Is it too little, too late?
It's a New Day Full of New Challenges
So there's nothing we can do about spilled milk. We're not going to cry, but we will opt to change what we can control today.
Today, Facebook is looking for engaging content and they want to improve the experience for their users. You're probably thinking, what does engaging mean? And that's a very good question.
When you think of engaging content, think like your fans and ideal customers are thinking when they are scrolling through their news feed.
What captures their attention? Most of the time when people scroll through their feed they are looking for things based on what is happening in their lives.
They may be looking for a gift for a special occasion, a solution to a big problem that's keeping them up at night. Or they may just need a mental break, and that why humor might be in order.
Knowing Your Audience
It's important to understand your audience and what they need from your brand.
Consider that everyone that is on your news feed is thinking in terms of "what's in it for me". When you give them what's in it for them, and they like it, they will visit you again and again.
The content you create has to be engaging and good at grabbing the attention and solving problems for your unique audience.
For help figuring out who your ideal customers are, you might need a focused approach. It's important to understand who your audience is and what they need.
Our workbook, Sell More to Your Ideal Customers will walk you through identifying your ideal customers.
4 Steps to Improve Organic Facebook Reach
Photo by Jorge Fakhouri Filho from Pexels
In addition to knowing your audience, here are some tips to consider to improve organic reach on your Facebook page.
Believe it or not links get the lowest amount of reach on Facebook.
The goal when creating your strategy is in thinking about a mix of post types that work for your business:
- Video. If you're not already, consider using video, the more the better. People on Facebook interact with video the most out of all post types.
If you're working full time, you might not have time to post videos on a regular basis.
But you might be able to batch produce a number of videos on weekends or evenings so that you can post at least once per week.
Another idea has to do with knowing "how" to create videos that get engagement and have a call to action that motivates followers to take the desired action.
Consider using short, seven (7) minute videos, as suggested in this affordable video course.
And believe it or not, links get the lowest amount of reach on Facebook.
Based on the fact that video get the most reach and links get the least amount of reach, your posting ratio might look like 60% video, 30% photos and 20% links. - Facebook Live. Take your videos up a notch with regular Facebook Live posts. Live videos get 6 times more engagement than even regular videos.
Use a third party app like Streamyard to record your live videos and transmit those videos to your Facebook page for more engagement and reach. - Watch parties. Watch parties happen when you take video (yours or others) and you broadcast them on your Facebook page or even your profile.
It's been shown that users tend to comment more in Watch Parties than they do when watching videos solo. - Ask questions. Ask short, engaging questions about a topic related to a common problem faced by your fans, related to your brand or industry.
If you haven't noticed, all the recommendations for boosting your reach (except #4) have to do with video. The fourth tip is related in an indirect way... You always want to ask your fans engaging, thought provoking questions when creating videos.
Video is fast becoming the number one way to engage with fans online.
And if you have a smart TV with video apps, you've probably seen YouTube as one of the popular streaming services.
Facebook is aiming to compete with YouTube when it comes to video, so you want your business to be in on that action.
To track how videos contribute to the overall reach and engagement on your Facebook page, visit the Posts tab of Page Insights and click on Post Types.
This will bring up a list of your posts and their average engagement. Understanding what types of posts drive the most reach engagement can give you insight on what to include regularly on your editorial calendar.
If you're wondering how to get started with video I would recommend an affordable course that walks you through how to use social media and video grow your business.
In the course the host talks about the network marketing industry, but the concepts apply to any business in any industry. It gives you everything you need to create great videos, even if you don't want to be on camera.
To learn more about Facebook reach and things you can do to grow your audience, check out this article. #facebookreach
Every Business Needs a Facebook Page
If don't have one, you're leaving money on the table. Download our two free guides that will show you how to build a page and optimize it to generate more leads and sales.
