If you manage social media accounts on Facebook and you’ve been at it for a while, then you’ve probably noticed a definite decline in your organic reach. If you have, don’t worry, you’re not crazy. Back in 2014 a lot of marketers and social media managers complained of the decline, prompting Facebook’s VP of Advertising Technology Brian Boland to comment on the changes.
To put it simply, according to Boland, there was just way too much advertising material flowing freely on Facebook. The changes were meant to only show users the content relevant to their lives.
Why Is Facebook's Organic Reach Decreasing?
Free flowing advertisement may have been nice for business Facebook pages, but without any restriction, it was quickly beginning to overwhelm the everyday user. The sheer amount of content floating around required Facebook to devise a plan of action to filter all of the competition and decide which posts deserved to be shown first.
They Made An Algorithm
Facebook created an algorithm to determine the quality of content and the relevance of the content to general public users. After trying an arbitrary point system for a while, Facebook adopted a machine learning-based algorithm that adapts to individual user preferences. Say your followers frequently click on videos or on photographs but you have neither on your page, Facebook will not allow your page’s posts any visibility on your followers’ News Feeds.
How To Increase Organic Reach On Facebook
So, what can you do to receive more visibility on your followers’ timelines? Here are a few tips to increase your organic reach by appearing in front of more users:
Tip #1: Encourage Your Fans To Engage On Your Page
Fans make your ads more effective. According to Facebook for Businesses blog, when a user sees that their friend on Facebook has liked your business page, your ads drive 50% more recall and 35% higher online sales lift. When people like your page, or your post, you boost your quality score.
Fan interactions on your page make the ads you run more efficient in Facebook’s ad auctions — they see the fact that your ads have a social context as a sign of good quality. At the same time, fan following lends more credibility to your brand and so Facebook’s algorithm will promote it to other users and look-alike pages.
If you’ve got a faithful following, remind them that they can go to the Pages feed on the left sidebar of their News Feed to see the content from your page. You can also suggest that they edit their Following setting from your page in order to make sure that they’re not missing any of your posts. Simply click on “Following” then “See First” on the popup menu.
Tip #2: Create Posts That Your Fans Are Interested In
Facebook’s overall goal was to place relevant posts in front of users. So, be more selective about what you post and make sure it aligns with your fan bases’ interests.
Utilize Facebook’s insights to determine where your fans live, their likes, and their interests and run with this information. If you discover most of your patients live in Florida, you can start posting relevant topics that Floridians would most likely enjoy. Or, if you discover your fans absolutely love outer space, find out a way to tie that into your posts!
No matter how crazy or weird it is, just use your creativity to make it work. Share engaging videos, broadcast on Facebook Live, step out of your comfort zone! Just be sure to remember that, while it’s good to tailor your content to stuff your fans like, you still need to find a way to make it relevant to your business.
Tip #3: Think Like A Facebook User:
Let’s do a little experiment. Log onto your Facebook page and scroll for a few minutes. After you’ve done so, reflect on what you stopped to read, watch, or like. This simple tip can be your key to success! Keep this mindset when you’re creating posts for your business.
Post what you would want to see, not something that is boring, wordy, or stale. Sometimes a simple quote over an eye-catching picture garners a great deal of attention because that’s what people like to see! You have to figure out what posts represent your business and simultaneously attract your audience. Just remember to ask, “Would my audience want to see this in their News Feeds?”
If not, don’t post it.
Managing a business page on Facebook is getting harder, there’s no question about it. There’s a lot of competition to face and the organic reach just won’t be as high as we want it to be. But, there’s still a lot you can do to make yourself be seen. Make sure you’re interacting with your followers in person, as well as online, and make sure you’re tailoring your content to what they want to see. Be adaptable, get creative, and have fun with it!