How to Increase Organic Reach on Facebook
Organic reach on Facebook is one of the hottest topics right now. In the past year there has been a lot of discussion about the changes of Facebook algorithm and potential decrease in reach.
Facebook limited reach of product placement posts because of the retention of its users. Many of them switched to Instagram, which is currently the only one of Facebook’s social media channel (beside Whatsapp) with positive growth.
But Facebook is far from dead and is still one of favourite channel or advertisers. Anyway, paid ads are not the solution to increase the reach, are just support to good content marketing. To know, how to increase organic reach on Facebook, we need to understand its algorithm first.
Facebook algorithm
Facebook decides which post will get to your news feed based on simple parameters. We call them signals if you want. Signals Facebook reacts to.
We all know them: time and type of post (video, picture or other type).
One of the signals is also time user spends looking at your post. Facebook also scans number of comments, average engagement and reach of shared posts.
We shouldn’t neglect the importancy of your page’s reach so far. This means, building organic reach on Facebook is a long-term investment.
But where to start?
Edit your Facebook page
First step should always be editing your Facebook page. Choose short and memorable name and username and use all Facebook options offered — from your brand’s story to Facebook shop.
Put some effort in sidebar tabs — you can invite users to join your newsletter there, set up Instagram feed and others.
Take care of your online visual identity
Imagine Facebook is a highway with billboards on both sides. What would made you stand out of the average? Good design.
Design of your posts is extremely important. Not just that good design will help you stand out. Setting up visual identity will make your audience easier to remember your posts. Next time your followers will recognize your post and spend more time on it.
Less is more
Posting more doesn’t mean you’ll get more reach. If you just created your Facebook page, focus on providing valuable content. It’s better to post just once per day or even couple of posts per week. It depends on your product or service industry and available content.
Easiest way to start is with monthly plans. Make sure you are consistent with posting. If you are posting at the same time every day, people will expect to see your post at that exact time every day. When you reach bigger number of followers and engagements on posts, increase number of posts.
Publish the right content
It’s known that video content gets best reach on Facebook. But that’s not always true. Make sure to post different types of content based on you target audience.
Facebook polls can sometimes get better reach than videos. Just because your followers can actively engage with them.
Balance general and sales content
Make sure your Facebook wall is not a sale flyer. Product and sale posts have way lower reach not. It’s important to publish interesting and valuable content which your followers can engage in.
But don’t worry. You can include your products even in general posts. Just make sure you don’t spam your users. Give them a chance to engage with your content. User generated content is the most valuable one.
Post at the right time
There are millions of researches on the best time of posting on Facebook. But at the end it all depends on your local market and your target audience.
Don’t forget how important it is to know your “ideal buyer” first. If you launching a new brand or product/service, we recommend testing more different audiences and analyse their response. In general, the best time to post would be between 11 AM and 1PM.
Adapt to local market
I cannot stress how important this is. Of course this applies only to brands selling to multiple countries. Adapting your content to local market and writing posts in local language takes more times, but it’s far more effective.
If you’re limited by resources analyse where most of your followers are from and where you sell most.
For example: Publish in Slovenian language for Slovenians, in Croatian language for Croatians and use English for others. When local community grows in these two countries you can repeat those steps in other countries (like Germany).
Use news feed targeting
Facebook offers a great extension only a few knows. Before you publish a post on your page, you can choose who to target in the news feed. You can use from the following options:
- Interests
- Age
- Gender
- Locations
- Languages
- Relationship status
- Education level
Using this option you can target people who might be highly interested in your post. They will engage with your post which will increase your organic reach on Facebook.
Start a conversation with your followers
When it comes to social media, having conversation with your followers is extremely important. Don’t forget you create your content to draw the attention of your potential buyers.
When your followers open a conversation it’s important to answer their questions and ask them about opinion. There’s when the importance of customer support comes in. The easier way to sell your product to you followers is through conversation.
Tag other Facebook pages
It doesn’t matter if your photo was taken on certain location or it features any other product — make sure to tag it! Maybe the tagged page will share your post which will increase your organic reach on Facebook.
Hope these tips will help you on a way to increase your organic reach on Facebook. But don’t forget — content marketing is a long-term investment. You need a good content and consistency to win at it. Only after you established a good content plan, you can upgrade it with advertising.
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Originally published at www.beglobal.si.
