You must have noticed a dip in the number of views (and interactions) the posts published on your Facebook Business Page get if you’ve been managing one over the past couple of years. Because Facebook is managing more content on its News Feed space today than it used to, the tech giant has in recent years been gradually cutting the organic reach of Facebook Business Pages, peaking with a major update to News Feed in early 2018.
Clearly, with up to 70 percent of marketers relying on Facebook to acquire new customers, and a whopping 78 percent of consumers making their purchasing decisions based on companies’ social media posts, businesses have all the reason to worry about this declining Facebook organic reach.
While Facebook marketing has evidently shifted in favour of paid advertising, there are still multiple ways to utilise the platform to market to your prospective audiences for free. Here are some of the key Facebook tactics that you can use to help your business gain traction organically.
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1. Focus on engagement with your content
Now more than ever, content is king in shaping your Facebook organic growth opportunities, but this only works if the content has what it takes to drive the highest level of engagement.
Content that succeeds to drive more engagement has a higher likelihood of appearing in the newsfeeds of more users. If a post drives a lot of engagement, Facebook may sometimes display it in the newsfeeds of users who do not follow your Page, something referred to as viral reach.
The Facebook tactics for or makeup of successful content includes:
- Always offering value in your posts
Ideally, you want something that people will be delighted to like, comment on or share. Based on Ranking, Facebook’s way of determining what its users are most interested in; the platform will look for likes, comments or shares to qualify a post as one that matters to the user.
If your post attracts more likes, comments or shares; it will potentially get a higher ranking spot on Facebook. This means that such a post will be visible to more of your target audiences.
Notice how it all begins: with the value that makes your audiences tick. Simply; the post needs to entertaining, educational or inspirational for the user to find it useful enough to want to like it if not comment on or share it with others. A constant stream of promotional messages will only fatigue your followers, making some of them reach for that dreaded ‘, Unlike' button.
- Keeping your posts short and concise
Facebook users, like anywhere else on the World Wide Web, are bombarded with lots of material to consume. They won’t always have the time to read through huge piles of text. So, one of the Facebook tactics to keep users from scrolling past your post is to make it easier to get the message. A concise written copy without any unnecessary jargon tends to succeed at this.
- Enriching your posts with visual content
We're talking about videos, images, and GIFs. Photos on Facebook generate 53 percent more likes than the average post. Videos, on the other hand, take user engagement on your posts to another level. People love video, making it the most popular, most engaging type of content that users are looking forward to seeing more of in 2018 and beyond.
While at it, make sure that the accompanying text overlay, or caption, serves to support your visuals and does not simply restate the GIF, video or image. Also, don’t be monotonous; ensure that you experiment with different visuals on different posts to stand out on the News Feed.
Don’t forget to include subtitles on GIFs and videos. Facebook videos always auto-play when the user scrolls to them, but the sound remains muted. Not every user will have the motivation to play the sound so subtitles will help get the message across regardless.
- Limiting the call-to-action to a single ask
Of course, you’ll want your followers to do something from time to time. It helps to not overwhelm them with requests for action. Always use only one call-to-action, or CTA, in each post with a CTA. Otherwise more calls to action may only end up with no action at all.
2. Manage the Interactions on your Facebook Business Page
While you wouldn’t have all the time to follow every interaction on your Facebook page, you should always have someone on hand to keep an eye out for user queries and comments that require a response.
Some customers will post a complaint right there on your Facebook Business Page, and up to 42 percent of them expect to get a response within an hour.
Away from user complaints, Facebook is built around dialogue, so, commenting and replying to user posts and comments on your page can go a long way in driving more intimate, interactive conversations with your audience. This eventually broadens your Facebook organic growth opportunities by boosting your Facebook Ranking and increasing your visibility.
As your business grows, the number of messages and requests you’re likely to receive through your Facebook Business Page is likely to grow too. It can be challenging to keep a handle on everything. As such, you may want to consider enlisting a community manager to ensure that your page remains interactive and optimally responsive to user conversations.
3. Run Competitions to grow your page likes
One of the few effective Facebook tactics for growing your Page likes organically is through competitions. Notice that people generally view Page likes as a symbol of Page authority. A page with more likes is likely to be regarded more favourably by users compared to one with just a handful of likes.
There are numerous different types of competitions that you can run on your Page, including photo competitions, caption contests, quizzes, and more. All these are easy to launch and manage. You can ask people to enter your contest by either liking the post, posting a photo, leaving a comment, or a combination of these.
Though Facebook doesn't encourage it, some businesses also ask their fans to share the subject of the contest; which can often boost the visibility of the business, leading to increased engagement.
Facebook contests are generally fun and engaging. They’re one of the strategies increase your Facebook organic growth opportunities by boosting interactions on your Facebook Business Page.
4. Use post scheduling to maintain consistency
Consistency is vital when it comes to maintaining an engaged audience. People follow your Facebook Page in anticipation of what you’re going to share there. Once you build a following, the one thing you want to do is keep the momentum so that your Page is always alive with interaction – this cannot happen unless you keep posting consistently. Make your fans be able to build an expectation.
Facebook allows you to schedule posts on your Page, to publish at selected time(s) and date(s). Scheduled posts go out as planned so there will be activity on your Page's newsfeed even if you're away on holiday or busy with something else.
This post scheduling feature also means that you can share posts at the time of day when most of the audience is online, maximising their chances of seeing it.
You could rely on Facebook’s built-in feature or opt instead for an alternative third-party app like Buffer, Hootsuite and Sprout Social to schedule your posts; whichever works best for you.
5. Leverage Facebook groups to drive engagement even further.
Content that is posted in Groups tend to appear higher in the newsfeeds of group members, more so if the content is generating a lot of engagement. This means that Groups represent one of the greatest Facebook organic marketing opportunities available for businesses today on the network.
Depending on individual settings, Facebook also notifies users when there are posts to the Groups to which they’re subscribed. This aspect serves to draw users back to the Group’s content, rather than just appearing in the newsfeed.
Even more importantly, Facebook has of late given more prominence to Groups, making them a great way to market organically and one of the best Facebook tactics today.
Facebook Groups are free to create and to moderate. They serve to turn your audiences into close-knit communities united by your brand as the shared factor. Whether you make the group open (for anyone to join at will), closed (to require approval to join), or private (to enlist members on an invite-only basis); just make sure the group is well monitored and moderated to make the most of it. You may also link the group to your business Page so that the Page can post directly to the Group.
6. Use Take engagement to another level with Facebook Live
One of Facebook’s recent additions, Facebook Live, is the last on our list of powerful Facebook organic growth opportunities to tap into.
Facebook Live videos allow you to get up close and personal with your fans, something that social media users really appreciate. The service allows you to live-stream activities or events that are of interest to your fans or just showcase some interesting behind-the-scenes moments of your business. This Facebook tactic is proven to cement business relations with their followers while also helping them create new fans along the way.
To get the most out of Facebook Live, be sure to use the service to keep your fans in the loop about events, live Q&A sessions, presentations, product demonstrations, and any other relevant activity.
Your followers will love the fact that they can ask questions and receive answers in real time. With its deeply interactive and immersive experience, this form of video content can be a great boon to your business’s organic marketing efforts.
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Last Words
To wrap up, don’t forget to engage with other pages to tap into their audiences. Facebook lets you comment on other posts as the Page that you manage. Interacting with users on other public posts can be a great way to get noticed and boost your visibility. Just be sure to offer valuable or interesting insights that will make those users want to hit the ‘Like’ button on your Page.
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