Reaching Further with Organic Facebook Posts

If you’ve ever managed a Facebook page, you probably know that getting followers to ‘like’ your company Facebook posts is easier said than done. Sure, having a large Facebook following increases your number of views, but even then you might not get the results you desire. This is likely due to Facebook’s recent algorithm changes aimed at rewarding “higher quality” content while down playing memes and similar types of posts. As a result, the organic reach of content is down and less people who have liked your page are seeing your posts.

Now, organic reach has been hobbled in favor of paying to “boost” your content to a wider audience all in hopes of growing your page’s fan base. So how can you combat paying for viewership? Here are a few suggestions:

• Post more often: Given that the Facebook algorithm is engineered to make relevant connections between people and Pages, you should be constantly experimenting with what works. With that in mind, the more posts you make, the more data you will be able to analyze. If you typically post twice a day, try doubling your output. See what works best, then repeat.
• Be timely: Figure out when your target audience is online — and on Facebook — and look for opportunities to post about events that are happening in those moments. You don’t have to be Oreo or Arby’s to take advantage of news jacking opportunities. Its better, of course, if the event is directly related to your product or content, but even connections made about news events should make your future posts more likely to be seen by the people you engaged with.
• Engage more: When your customers interact with the page, make sure to respond, answering questions or thanking them for their comments. Those direct human connections are the signals the algorithm uses to make links between Facebook users — and Pages.
• Tag other Pages: When you have a post about a topic that has is related to another Facebook Page, tag that Page. Facebook last month announced that such posts might be displayed in the News Feeds of users who like the tagged Page.

Do you think Facebook can still be an effective free tool for businesses to reach their target audience? What do you think of these suggestions?

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