Facebook organic reach is down. Way down.
Nowadays, if you post a link on your Facebook or Instagram page, it might not generate as many clicks as it used to.
The percentage of traffic that comes from social media referrals has remained around 5 percent for a number of years.
On average, 5% of your Facebook followers will see a post you make.
Despite the concerns about the spread of misinformation on social media, the reach of these platforms is still very large. There are over 3.96 billion active users of social media platforms.
Reaching a massive audience is harder than ever before.
What is the best way to grow a Facebook page? That is exactly what we will be discussing in this article.
Let’s get started.
What Exactly Is Organic Reach On Facebook?
Organic reach is the number of people who see your content without you having to pay to distribute it. This includes people who see your posts because they follow you or because their friends have interacted with you.
Paid reach is determined by the people who see your content as a function of paid promotions. Ad targeting options and the ability to impact organic reach on Facebook are both factors that come into play.
But it’s not so simple.
Engagement also factors in the quality of those interactions. How engaged your audience is with your content has a lot to do with how far it reaches- in other words, how many people like, react, comment, or share your post. The quality of the interactions is also taken into account.
Although engagement rates have increased, organic reach has decreased.
The number of people seeing our posts is still rapidly declining. So why aren’t our posts being surfaced more often?
Let me explain.
Why Facebook Organic Reach Is Declining
Reason 1: Nurture More Leads and Organic Conversions
Many people use social media solely for brand awareness.
This leaves room to improve and get better results for your business.
Lead generation is an often overlooked opportunity that can make or break a marketing campaign.
In order to bring in potential customers and funnel them into your sales process, you will need to invest time and energy, but no money.
When potential buyers are turned into actual buyers, it will cost less.
That context fills up a brand’s profile, and it lets search engines know that your brand can generate leads and sales The results of an organic campaign typically grow gradually, like a snowball rolling downhill. As more people engage with your content, it provides context for your campaigns. That context builds up your brand’s profile and shows search engines that your brand can generate leads and sales.
The more you can get your content in front of people organically, the better your lead generation and conversion funnels will work.
Reason 2:Â Reduce the Cost Per Click of Paid Campaigns
Facebook’s ad product is very easy to use and very impressive.
The audience targeting options are very sophisticated and every marketer would love to have them.
AdExpresso has found that, on average, ads will cost 636 million dollars in 2021.
The average cost-per-click for ads can be low if you control the other variables.
But here’s the deal:
If you spend a lot of money on Facebook ads without seeing any return, it’s important to learn how to make your ads more effective by increasing organic reach.
Reason 3: There Are Tons of New (Under-Utilized) Facebook Features
Previously, the only content options on Facebook were posts, videos, and ads. However, there are now many new features available, such as Facebook Stories, Facebook Watch, Facebook Groups, and Facebook Live.
There is an opportunity for companies to increase their organic traffic by taking advantage of features that are not being used by many companies.
Understanding Facebook’s News Feed Algorithm
Facebook’s algorithm has changed a lot in recent years. The introduction of reactions and the “Why am I seeing this post” feature has changed how Facebook decides what posts to show users.
Factors that Facebook uses to decide which posts to show a user in their News Feed includes things such as the number of likes, comments, and shares a post has, how recent the post is, and if the user has interacted with the person who made the post before.
The three ranking signals that Facebook uses are who you interact with, the type of media, and the popularity of the post.
Mark Zuckerberg says that Facebook is now focusing on posts that encourage “meaningful interactions” and posts from people’s friends and family.
There are other detailed data points that come into play:
- how recently the post was published
- how frequently the publisher posts content
- the number of likes, comments, and shares on the post
- how often the user has interacted with the page posting the update
- past user interaction with the same post type
- negative feedback on the post
- how useful the post is
This is not an exhaustive list, but it gives us enough to think about.
What is Facebook’s goal for News Feeds?
Facebook strives to improve the experience of its users by providing high-quality, relevant content.
Content that is overly promotional does not do well with users, so Facebook has taken measures to crack down on that type of content. In the past, Facebook has also reduced traffic from publishers in favor of user-generated content.
When reach is decreased due to algorithmic changes, how can you still drive traffic from Facebook?
Let’s take lessons from BuzzFeed.
What makes BuzzFeed successful on Facebook is their engagement with viewers through interesting content, as well as their investment in Facebook Ads.
Now, not a lot of people have a ton of money to spend like BuzzFeed.
We will take the smarter route that does not require a heavy investment for a small business owner.
Here are five things you should avoid doing on your Facebook page if you want to increase your organic reach.
1. Don’t Automate Everything
Your brand needs a human touch on Facebook’s social platform. Schedule latest blog links and product updates, but also post team photos like Zappos.com or inspirational quotes like Tony Robbins.
Social media marketing should be lighthearted and fun, like Nutella
Or, share inspirational graphics.
2. Mix up your post formats
Though videos can greatly increase your organic reach on Facebook, you shouldn’t solely rely on this content format.
It’s important to vary the types of content you post on social media to keep things interesting for your followers. A mix of formats will help ensure your content is shared more, resulting in increased organic reach.
Some other post types that work are listicles, how-to’s, and personal stories.
- Stories
- Images without links
- Quotes
- Questions
- GIFs
- Looped images or videos
- Polls
- Blog posts
There are an endless amount of content topics you could write about.
A funny meme or a behind-the-scenes sneak-peek of your business are both great choices for an entertaining post.
If you create quality content that is interesting to your audience, you are likely to earn a lot of shares and have your content seen by more people.
3. Don’t Try to Cheat the Facebook Ecosystem
If you’re looking to spam your fans and get them to engage with your content in a negative way, then there are a few things you can do. Buying 5,000 likes for $5 is a great way to get started. Using clickbait headlines is also a good way to get people to engage with your content in a negative way. Bombarding your fans with 10 poor-quality updates in an hour is also a great way to get them to engage with your content in a negative way.
It’s a sheer waste of time and money.
If you want to stay on Facebook’s good side, you need to avoid spamming.
Not only are these manipulative tactics not helpful for your business, they might actually cause harm.
AdExpresso ran an experiment in which they posted an identical video on three of their fan pages and then paid to boost each post.
The result?
Over the course of two weeks, the researchers bought likes from five different companies. Even after Facebook had deleted the paid-for likes, there was zero engagement on the two pages where they had been bought.
4. Don’t Build a Fanbase You Can’t Sustain
Even if you have a large, targeted fanbase, your reach will still be lower than it could be.
This means that you have to create content that is relevant and useful to several different segments of your audience.
Would you rather have a small but passionate audience or a large one that does not care?
5. Publish native Facebook video
You need to start making videos if you want to improve your organic reach. This is because video is one of the most engaging content types on the web.
If you want your Facebook content to be seen by more people, native Facebook videos are the way to go. They have a higher organic reach rate than statuses, links, or even photos. So how do you make the most of the format? Here are some tips:
Make sure your Facebook videos are interesting and engaging by making them emotionally charged, expressing an understanding of your audiences’ needs, and offering solutions to their problems. Try to deliver the most valuable, compelling information in the first 3-5 seconds of the video to engage the viewers.
Finally, add captions and Facebook hashtags to your videos or animations to make them more accessible.
If you want your videos to reach a lot of people on Facebook, follow these steps.
If you share videos on Facebook, you will reach 10 times more people than if you just post a link to the video. If you’re worried that sharing a link to your YouTube channel will decrease your organic reach on Facebook, try posting a mix of both native videos and YouTube links.
6. Go live
According to Socialbakers (now Emplifi) data, you can use the live video format to improve your Facebook organic reach. Live video has almost doubled the engagement of regular video posts.
Video content that is pre-recorded and then posted to Facebook does not have the same interactive potential as live videos. In contrast, Facebook Live is a live video platform, which provides an experience that encourages people to comment and participate.
A good topic for a live video is an “ask me anything” Q&A. This format helps you connect with your audience and support their needs.
It also allows you to learn more about your community so you can improve your content to better serve them.
To get the most out of the Live format, try out different topics and see what gets the most engagement for your brand.
7. Fine-tune your publishing time
It is essential to post at the right time in order to improve your organic Facebook reach. This is because posting when your audiences are online makes your content more visible and thus more likely to be seen organically.
If you want to be successful on Facebook, you need to know when to post.
One way to determine when it is optimal to post for your business is to look at your performance data to see if there is a pattern of increased interactions.
Socialbakers PrimeTime is a tool that allows you to find your best publishing times with just a few clicks.
If you want to make sure that your audience always sees your content when you publish it, ask them to enable notifications for your posts. This is a great way to improve your organic visibility!
8. Tap into Facebook Groups
If you can get your customers to join one of your groups, you’ll be able to communicate with them directly, and you’ll be able to keep them updated on your latest news and offerings. Additionally, you’ll be able to create a community of customers who can interact with each other, which can lead to more loyalty and engagement. An excellent way to increase your Facebook organic reach is to utilize Facebook Groups to maintain your customer base. According to Facebook, there are in excess of 400 million people in Facebook groups.
You can reach a wider audience for your business by posting in Facebook groups related to your company’s interests.Since the group members are already interested in such topics, they are more likely to engage with your content.
You can grow your Facebook audience organically by creating a Facebook community and providing more connections. Creating a community requires time and effort, as well as constant engagement with your followers, but this can also result in long-term and consistent engagement.
You shouldn’t be afraid to set up a group on Facebook to connect with people who share your interests. This can help you reach more people organically on Facebook, grow your email list, and strengthen your connection with your audience.
9. Take advantage of trending topics
If you want to create a strong content strategy, you need to keep up with the latest trends on Facebook. The Facebook Business Hot Topic Tool can help you see what’s trending by category, industry, date, age, gender, and more, so you can produce content that appeals to your audience.
You can attract more traffic and gain exposure for your brand if you plan and time your posts diligently.
10. Be human
If you want people to feel more connected to your business on Facebook, interact with them as a human being. Personalize your responses, and show that you genuinely care about your community.
If you want to get more people to share your content, learn about your followers. Understand your audience personas’ demographics, affinities, and behaviors. This way you can tailor your posts accordingly and make them more shareable.
11. Target your organic posts
Organic post targeting can improve your Facebook organic reach by allowing you to better target your audience.
This option allows you to share your posts with a smaller group of users who are more likely to interact with your content. This can result in more shares and organic reach for your content.
The takeaway
Even though the organic reach of Facebook pages is dropping, there are still ways to combat the News Feed algorithm. The game has changed, but you can still play it to your advantage using the tips outlined in this article.
It can be daunting to keep up with all the changes to the Facebook algorithm, but if you focus on creating content that your audience will love, you’ll be much more successful. Get more shares and organic reach by thinking about what your audience wants instead of just what’s best for your brand.
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