Since Facebook’s big algorithm update earlier this year, I keep hearing complaints about poor reach on Facebook business pages. And while it’s true that organic reach has taken a hit in recent times, what really makes me angry is so-called social media ‘gurus’ claiming that Facebook is now only a ‘pay to play platform’. The reason it makes me angry is because it highlights how some people really don’t understand social media properly.
The bottom line is that if done right, you still can get great results from your Facebook page.
Here are 10 simple steps you can follow to improve the reach and engagement of your page:
1. Have a strategy
First and foremost, understand what it is you want to achieve. What are your goals and what do you need to be doing on daily, weekly, monthly basis to achieve them?
You need to know what metrics are actually meaningful for your success and how they relate to each other as well as to your other metrics (website, email, revenue etc.). You should also know what steps/phases your prospects go through and how your social media funnel works.
2. Understand your audience
An important part of any marketing strategy is having a clear idea who your customers are, where they hang out, what pains they have and what content they prefer to digest. Research your audience and get to know them well, then choose one main platform and one secondary platform – ideally the most popular networks for your ideal clients.
3. No shortcuts
Avoid ‘quick wins’ and other ‘hacks’. Such tactics don’t work long term and they can damage your brand! Marketers and businesses trying to game the system is the main reason why all platforms need to introduce new updates and rules to protect their users from spammy behaviour.
4. Quality over quantity
There’s no ‘one size fits all’ rule when it comes to how much content you should create and how often you should post. But the rule of thumb is quality over quantity. Always!
Do less and do better! Even if it means that you only post twice a week instead of daily, do that and at least each of your posts will get greater exposure.
You should only post high-quality, interesting, relevant and helpful content. Before posting, ask yourself – so what? – why should anyone care? Would I engage with this content if I saw it in my feed? Would this image/video stop my thumb from scrolling and would I be willing to leave Facebook to click on this link? Your answer should be ‘Hell yeah’! Otherwise, don’t post it.
5. Be proactive with engagement
To get better engagement on your page you need to proactively seek engagement. You should post thought-provoking updates, ask questions, sparkle new conversations with your audience. But you should be doing much more than that – listen to your audience, analyse what they’ve engaged with previously, research their preferences, test new ideas and measure your results.
Most importantly, don’t wait for people to come to you – go out and start engaging first – find potential customers, influencers, partners and everyone in between on Facebook, join their conversations, comment on their posts and be genuinely interested.
6. Respect the platform
Get to know Facebook very well. Understand how it works, how is its audience using it, what specific features are available, what other brands are doing (not only in your industry but anyone else who’s really leveraging this platform well for their business) and be creative. Never automatically cross-post the same content from another platform – it looks lazy and disrespectful to your audience (they’re not stupid and they’ll see through your automation).
7. Go Live
Do I need to say more? Facebook loves live video! It’s real, it’s authentic, it’s engaging. But don’t go live just because I said so. Have a plan for each of your live videos, write down a few bullet points and stay on point. Don’t ‘hang around’ waiting for people to join you live – many people will tune in halfway through the broadcast and even more people will watch the replay. Introduce yourself and your topic and jump straight into your content.
8. Create branded eye-catching visuals
Go beyond photos by creating customised GIFs and simple animations. Don’t get me wrong, photos are great, but videos and GIFs are even better. However, not everything can (and should) be turned into a video or a GIF. Nevertheless, simply enhancing your photo by adding an extra animation, subtle movement or turning it into a GIF can help you grab audiences’ attention.
9. Boost your top-performing posts
If you really want to use the ‘Boost’ option, do it for posts that are already performing well! There’s no point in spending money on bad content that doesn’t get any traction. It won’t help.
10. Have a Facebook Ads strategy and a budget
Every business should have at least a small Facebook ads budget put aside. If you’re planning to invest in Facebook ads, make sure that you understand the different types of ads, how they fit into your social media funnel and how to effectively target your ideal audience.
P.S. You can use these tips to improve your engagement on every social media platform!
Let me know if you’d like more info for each of these bullet points. I’m thinking about turning this list into a proper blog post or I might do a Facebook Live walking through these tips. Tweet me @lenkakopp.
