You and your team put a ton of work into creating the perfect content for Facebook. You read all the blogs to find out which kinds of posts do best and what time to post. Finally, after much hard work and planning, you hit publish on the most badass post you’ve ever done and…
crickets.
If your page and posts aren’t getting the kind of engagement you’d like to see, don’t take it personally. Over the last few years, Facebook has changed its algorithm in such a way that can make getting organic (that is, not paid for) engagement significantly more difficult than in the early days of the platform.
Here’s a quick look at what you’re up against, as well as some tips for improving engagement.
Facebook’s Algorithm
By the end of 2019, organic reach for Facebook posts was down to just 5.5% of a Page’s followers. So for any given post, only about 5.5% of your Page’s followers will be shown your post, absent any engagement that would boost the posts reach.
If you’re thinking to yourself “Wow, 5.5% is not a lot of people,” you’re correct.
The obvious solution is to get your credit card out and run some ads. But if you’re not willing or able to flash some plastic, there are some simple steps to improving your organic engagement.
Play the (Algorithm) Game
Start a conversation. Facebook is pretty upfront about how Pages can increase reach and engagement. First, your content should inspire your audience to take action; whether it’s comments, Likes, shares, you should focus on creating and publishing content that people want to see. That looks different for every business, but it’s easy to test; if no one engages with your posts, it’s not the content they want.
Post frequently. One post a week doesn’t do anything to make Facebook’s algorithm happy. We recommend posting 5-7 times per week, but the bare minimum is 3 times per week.
Be concise. There’s an old, but still really helpful blog post/study from Hootsuite that I have bookmarked that says 88% of Facebook users are on mobile and spend just 1.7 seconds consuming an item of content. On a computer, that duration skyrockets to a whopping 2.5 seconds per item of content. Your image and copy need to get a user’s attention really quickly, and even then, it won’t last for long. Make the most of it.
Facebook is a huge opportunity to grow your business and your brand. But, as is made clear above, it’s crucial to work smarter, not harder. Sue Facebook insights to gauge your posts’ engagement and constantly be making changes to your content to increase its reach and impact.
If you’d like to learn more about Facebook to get more out of your marketing efforts there, we put together a super handy Facebook Marketing Guide. To learn more about how we help businesses leverage their social media into a valuable brand asset and sales tool, shoot me an email to set up a call.