You may have noticed an alarming trend in your Facebook analytics recently. Your posts aren't doing well and your LIKES, Comments and Share have all gone down. Time to panic, right? Well before you fire your social media management company, know that this isn't their fault. The old saying goes "it's not you, it's me." Well, in this case, it's not you - it's Facebook.
It's true. Facebook recently admitted that organic reach is falling short of what it used to be, and the reasoning is fair enough. More and more users and businesses are using Facebook and sharing content than ever before, but the space on each individual's News Feed hasn't changed. In order to give users the best experience possible, Facebook has altered their algorithms to make content more competitive in getting on an individual's feed. Facebook's goal is to weed out "spammy, non-engaging content" and businesses are suffering because of it.But all hope is not lost. There are a few things you or your social media management company can do to get your reach back to what it was:
1) Advertise, Advertise, Advertise
You might not like to hear that spending money is your best option, but in this case it's true - and it doesn't even need to be as costly as you think. While organic reach has been changed dramatically by Facebook's new algorithms, paid reach remains relatively unscathed. For as little as $50/month you or your social media management company can put together a campaign for your most buzzworthy, relevant posts to to target specific demographics. By laser-targeting your ads, you will get the best numbers while also keeping your costs low.
2) Be Newsworthy
The organic reach isn't the only Facebook algorithm that has been tweaked. They also announced that news stories are going to be more prominently featured, especially on mobile, to compete with Twitter. First, find relevant news to either your business or your fans or write relevant blogs. Second, link to them in your posts. You'll get "first dibs" so to speak over other fluff pieces on users' News Feeds. Your social media management company can help you find relevant content that will do well.
3) Be More Effective & Efficient
Know your audience, and your reach will continue to shine. As Facebook works to get rid of unwanted, irrelevant content from users' feeds, businesses will have to work harder to understand their fans and know what kind of content they are looking for. Not only will you be able to reach a larger number of users, but you will also be able to spend your precious advertising dollars more effectively. Be proactive and have your social media management company dig deep in the insights to find more data for you to use in posts.
