Facebook had been a really great growth channel for us at Vendevor.

The formula seemed simple. Post good content that was relevant/entertaining/informative to your readers, they like and share it, and more people like and follow your page. Oh, and it’s free.

Facebook had saved us a good amount of money in the early days, and we knew that it was a great growth channel for businesses using Vendevor, too.

Not only could you be posting out shareable content, but you could be posting about your store, and that would drive real sales.

Whoever muttered the words “too good to be true” must have been within earshot of Facebook’s HQ.

It seemed like all of a sudden, the reach of our fan page posts came to a screeching stop.

If you’re not familiar with it, Facebook essentially cut down on the number of fans that would actually see your posts. There isn’t a published percentage of people that will see your posts, but it’s somewhere in the single digits. 3-10%.

Facebook’s argument (which can be read here) is that it will improve the quality of each user’s timeline feed so that they are more likely to engage with the content. And if Facebook’s algorithm decides that your content would be valuable to one of your fans, it will likely display your post on their timeline feed.

The main counterargument (and one I agree with) is that if someone came and liked your page, they are effectively signing up for updates. They want to follow your business, which is what prompted them to “like” it in the first place.

So, it wouldn’t make much sense that Facebook would deem your content not valuable to one of your fans that said “yes I want to follow and receive updates from this business.”

We’re definitely feeling the changes, too.

Take a look at Vendevor’s reach through Facebook over the last few months.

Going great, and then all but stopped.

Before we all go and boycott Facebook, we certainly can’t deny that they’re still the world’s largest social network, and there isn’t any near-term end in sight for people engaging with friends, family, and businesses through it.

So, it simply requires that we (Vendevor included) change our approach to making Facebook posts, and implement some of these alternatives.

So, what can we do in response to fewer people seeing our Facebook posts?

1) First, and most obviously, post more.

The first obvious response to fewer people seeing your posts is to post more often so that you can have an opportunity to reach a much larger percentage of your fan base. I don’t just recommend this only because it’s simple, but rather because it’s just plain fact. More posts = more viewers. The real important elements come in the next five recommendations.

2) Post the same content (used in your FB post) on other social networks.

In addition to posting your content on Facebook, you can always re-purpose the content for other sites. For instance, make sure to tweet a condensed version of your Facebook post, or post the same picture to Instagram. Additionally, Google+ is another social media source that is underutilized. Google definitely takes into consideration your business’ Google+ profile into SEO rankings, and so you can simply copy and paste the same Facebook post and make it a Google+ post for your business.

Where it also becomes interesting is if you are posting updates from your blog. The content that you write for your blog can be repurposed and republished on blogging sites like Medium. Medium has a whole new set of viewers that are scrolling through content, and it can serve as a whole new distribution channel for your content. All it takes is some copy/paste action from the content you’ve already written on your blog. Easy stuff.

3) If you aren’t building an email list from your blog, start now.

I suppose the precursor to that should be “if you aren’t blogging, start now.” I’ll be honest, even I was a little intimated and unsure about the time required to have an active blog, but after reading this one blog, I changed my mind.

It is very evident that those who actively read (and or subscribe) to your blog have a much better chance of becoming a paying customer. It makes rational sense that someone who subscribes to follow your brand via a blog (just like they would on a Facebook fan page) is also interested in purchasing from your company one day.

It doesn’t matter if you’re selling a physical product, a service, or anything else, building an email list through blogging opens new doors to keep in touch with your followers and also be able to send them promotions.

If you need a starting place, here is a quick walkthrough to building a blog and an email list.

For retail businesses, this is a game changer. Especially during holiday weekends or days, a single email could literally convert into thousands of dollars in online sales through a one-time only holiday offer. We have seen this work countless times for stores using Vendevor. Sending out promotions to your email list really works. Start blogging and building that list now.

You don’t even have to be blogging to build your list… simply sign up for MailChimp, AWeber, or Constant Contact, and add an email opt-in form to your website and let people know that they will receive exclusive online-only offers. It will take a lunch break and could lead to huge sales down the road.

So, if you ever needed a reason to start blogging and growing your email list, Facebook reaching less of your fan base is as good of a reason as ever.

4) Share your content with similar businesses in the area.

This is particularly valuable if/when you have promotions that benefit a cause or you know that your product could be enjoyed/used by customers of another business. We wrote a whole post on cross-promoting your business with other local businesses, and it goes into detail about how you can do this to grow your business.

Start by contacting another local company and agree to include each other and each other’s promotions in X amounts of posts, tweets, and emails. It’s a simple swap that could lead to extra promotion for your brand. So, for example, if you are running a holiday promotion, you could also promote your stores together via Facebook posts, tweets, and/or email blasts. Super easy and gives you more distribution that you would otherwise have on your own. Read this post for some killer ideas on how to do this effectively.

5) Always, always include a link to your store when you are posting to Facebook.

Given that fewer people are going to see each post, it is imperative that your viewers be able to act right then and there on whatever you’re promoting. If you’re promoting your store, absolutely include the URL to your store. If you are promoting your blog post, don’t just say “Check out our latest blog post!” Include a link to it.

Here’s a great example of a simple post from one of our stores. It brought in multiple sales that same day:

6) Include pictures in each of your posts.

To be sure and catch the attention of those who are able to see your posts, a picture is more likely to grab their attention than just plain text. Take this infographic into consideration:

Photos clearly engage the most viewers on Facebook, and so given that fewer people now see your posts, you want to be able to reap the maximum value out of each post. You can easily do that through posting pictures along with text.

Key Takeaways:

- Maximize the value of each post by including a link to your store or whatever you’re promoting, and also use pictures as much as you can in order to have a more engaging post.

- Start blogging and building an email list of people who want to follow your business.

- Repurpose your content to use on Twitter, Medium, Google+, and others.

- Simply post more, keeping all of the above in mind.