More changes are coming to Facebook for business Pages. Are you ready? Starting in January 2015, Facebook will begin limiting the reach of unpaid “promotional” posts from Pages. Promotional posts are defined as:
- Posts that solely push people to buy a product or install an application.
- Posts that push people to enter promotions and sweepstakes with no real context.
- Posts that reuse the exact same content from ads.
So what does this mean? This quote from Rebecca Lieb pretty much sums it up: “It’s a clear message to brands: If you want to sound like an advertiser, buy an ad.”
Organic Reach has already declined for many Fan Pages, and this new algorithm change may decrease it even more, especially if you’re only using your Page to promote, promote, promote…
But even if you aren’t creating posts that send up a red flag as overly promotional, the sheer number of posts that appear on a typical users’ Home Feed means that your posts won’t be seen by most of your Fans.
So how can you increase the organic reach of your Page’s posts? We’ll be sharing a series of 12 tips in the next two blog posts – 6 in this post, and the remaining 6 in Part 2. Test a few of these ideas, track your reach and engagement rate in Facebook Insights, and then adjust your strategy accordingly.
Tip #1: Increase Your Posting Frequency
You may hear from some experts that increasing your posting frequency increases your Reach, and you’ll hear from others that decreasing the number of times you post will make Fans pay more attention to your posts.
The bottom line is…you need to experiment with posting frequency on your Page and learn what works best for your community.
My recommendation for your testing is this: if you normally post 1-2 times per day, increase that to 3-4 times per day for several weeks. Or, if you normally post 5-10 times per day and your Reach is very low, then cut back to 2-3 times per day to see what happens.
Tip #2: Share Exclusive Content on Your Page
What can you share on your Facebook Page that is not shared anywhere else? If you keep some of your content exclusive to your Fan Page, then your target audience has a reason to visit your Page and read your posts.
Exclusive content can include tips or resources, contests/sweepstakes, videos (different than the ones you post to YouTube), or Q & A sessions where you open your wall up to Fans.
Tip #3: Create and Share Evergreen Content (on a rotating schedule)
Since the majority of your Fans will not see every post you put on your Page, make sure you are creating content that is “evergreen” – relevant at any time. Then create a posting schedule that includes sharing your evergreen content more than once.
I recommend rotating posts on a 3-6 month schedule to keep things looking fresh on your Page.
For example, if you share a “Tip of the Week” on your Page, create a folder of 20 tips, share one each week, and then at the end of twenty weeks, start over with the first tip.
You can expand your folder of evergreen content by mixing up the type of posts: share Tip #1 as an image/graphic the first time; make a short video of Tip #1 for the second time you share it; make an Infographic of Tips #1-#5 for a third post.
Tip #4: Find the Posts that Resonate with your Fans
What types of posts do your current Fans respond to? You’ve probably heard that video posts and posts with a photo/image are generally the most popular. But again, you need to experiment with your Page.
If you haven’t done so already, create some posts that speak to the more “human” side of your business: what is your story? What stories can you share about your clients?
Think of invoking emotions, telling a story with your content, and being a helpful resource – as you experiment with your posts.
Tip #5: Offer Something Your Fans Need (& use Facebook to drive traffic to email sign-ups or a Landing page)
What do you offer that helps your Fans solve a problem or fill a need? Educate them about it and then drive traffic to a place where they can take action.
Your Facebook Page can be the tool that drives people to your website or email marketing list, as these two landing places will be where your target audience takes action (by signing up for emails, or purchasing something from your website).
You can choose from a variety of third-party tools (Woobox, Short Stack, Heyo, Tabsite) to create a custom App/Tab for your Page. If you use AWeber, MailChimp or Constant Contact, you can easily integrate your email list opt-ins to a custom App/Tab.
Then, periodically share the link to your email sign-up App/Tab in a post or paid Ad.
Or you can use your Facebook posts to send people off Facebook and directly to your website/Landing page. Keep in mind that these posts can’t be overly promotional and you want to keep them to a 10-20% ratio of your total posts (make 80 – 90% of your posts informative/helpful and then mention your products/services 10 – 20% of the time).
Tip #6: Pay Attention to Trends, and Post or Share “Timely” Content
You’ve probably noticed how your friends respond to current trends or timely content on Facebook (just think of all the Ice Bucket Challenge posts you saw in 2014).
Consider sharing posts that are trending if they are something you/your Fans would find relevant. Or create a few original posts that speak to a trend.
But note that Facebook does reduce the visibility of “overly-shared” content, so you need to be careful with trending posts. Your Fans may also hide trendy posts from your Page if they are seeing the same post from you and 20 of their friends.
Once again, experiment with this tip and don’t make trendy posts a big part of your daily content schedule.
So there are your first 6 tips on increasing the reach of your Facebook Fan Page. Click here to read Part 2. And let me know if you have any questions!
About Terry League