Organic reach has become harder to achieve on Facebook and marketers are turning to creative ways to get their messages seen.
The good news is that there are still lots of ways you can expand your reach on Facebook. Some ways include focusing on the right types of content, offering a wide variety of content, using your posts and comments to show the human side of your business, and using your Facebook page as a way to engage followers, build relationships, and expand your brand’s recognition to new audiences.
In this blog, you’ll discover how to help your Facebook posts go further.
Content Optimisation
In order to reach far, your content has to make people pause and read. The promise of your content must be thumb-stopping. What you deliver has to inspire people to respond with, “OMG, I must share this now!”
The Facebook news feed algorithms reward active advertisers and engaging content. The more reactions, comments, and shares your posts get, the better their reach. This goes for both organic and paid (your advertising dollars will go further).
Post More Native and Live Video
Video continues to hold sway on Facebook with triple the engagement and 1200% more shares than text and image posts combined. In addition, when compared to YouTube video shared on Facebook, native video uploaded to Facebook has 10 times the reach.
Create a Mix of Post Types
You can deliver content on Facebook in a number of different ways, including video, slides, photos, and text. While some people may prefer (and therefore share) your photos, users who are pressed for time might be more likely to share a text post. Mix up your post types and you’re more likely to attract views from a variety of users.
Build Relationship with People
Lauren Scissors dropped a hint as to what type of branded content will still perform well when she mentioned interactions that require some effort. She provides an example: “typing out a long and thoughtful reply to a friend’s post.”
So, what can we gather from this? The type of paid and organic content that will continue to perform well on Facebook is content that provokes thoughtful responses and creates meaningful experiences for users. Your content should ideally encourage discussion without partaking in engagement baiting — Facebook has been against that practice since 2017.
One of the most effective ways to increase engagement with your posts (and therefore increase organic reach) is to appeal to your followers’ emotions. The more strongly people feel about a piece of content, the more likely they are to react, share, or comment on it.
Not every feeling encourages people to share posts, though. Harvard Business Review published a study on what emotions were most associated with viral content, and here are the key takeaways:
Positive emotions were more common in viral posts, but posts that caused negative emotions still went viral when they created a sense of anticipation and surprise. Highly shared content often inspired a feeling of admiration. The top five emotions associated with viral content were curiosity, amazement, interest, astonishment and uncertainty.
Find the Best Time to Post
When you post content to Facebook matters almost as much as the content itself. If you share an amazing article at 4 AM, by the time your target audience wakes up it will already be lost at the bottom of their News Feeds.
Instead, use your Facebook analytics to determine when your fans are online. You can see peak days and times for your followers on your Page Insights in the Posts section
By posting when your followers are most likely to be browsing Facebook, you increase the chances that your content shows up first in their Feed—and that means more organic reach.
However, posting at peak hours also means you’ll face more competition to get your posts seen in users’ feeds because more people will be posting at those times.
The best solution is to push out your content just before peak traffic hours so that you’re the first to have your content out when people open Facebook. For example, if Facebook Insights shows that 6 PM is high tide for your fans, try posting at 5:45 to catch the wave early.
Leveraging Facebook Groups
Another great way to boost your Facebook organic reach is leveraging Facebook Groups.
Posting in Groups allows you to share content to people interested in topics related to your business. As a result, you can reach a large user segment that is relevant to your company and therefore more likely to click-through on your posts.
Don’t be afraid to set up your own group to bring together like-minded users and enable information sharing. Such a space works great for not only improving your organic Facebook reach, but also boosting your email lists, and strengthening the connection with your audience.
Be Brave to Repost
You’ve probably heard people talking about the importance of evergreen content, and one of the reasons it’s so important is because it allows you to repost old content and it will still be relevant. When you do repost, it’s important to choose content that performed well in the past, and that means it was successful at encouraging engagement and that your followers will find it valuable. If necessary, edit the article to update it slightly or make it more relevant for today’s audiences.
Explanatory note: Evergreen content is content that isn’t dated, meaning it will always be interesting and relevant to readers. A Thanksgiving article is an example of content that isn’t evergreen because it’s only relevant at one time of year.
Include Hashtags in Posts
Hashtag is not only for Instagram, it is gaining popularity in Facebook as well. With hashtags, users will have an easier time finding your posts. These formerly called “pound signs” function as filing cabinets that organize content according to the description of your tag. Those who are interested in the same topic as your post will find your post easier with the help of hashtags.
For example, if users search for “Instagram ad examples” on Facebook, posts with hashtags of the same keywords (#instagramadexamples) will appear in the results. Make sure the hashtags you use are specific rather than broad (#marketing vs #socialmediamarketing), that they are intuitive—use keywords that people would type. Don’t complicate it.
Post Only HQ Photos And Videos
Cheesy stock photos are not going to perform well, and they certainly won’t improve your organic reach. Low-resolution or corny videos won’t help either. If you want your photos or videos to perform well, take the time to make sure they’re high-quality and visually pleasing. Avoid using stock photos which are not engaging with the audiences at all.
Think about the type of visuals that would make you stop scrolling through your feed and pique your interest. You don’t want visuals that will blend in with other content, or even worse, make users stop for a moment to shake their heads at the unprofessional look of your post before continuing to scroll.
Videos should use captivating footage. At no point should the viewer think the video could have been made in a basement with an old smartphone. Take the time to make your videos look good. When they look good, followers want to engage with them.
Of course, that doesn’t mean that you have to invest in expensive photographers or videographers. You can still use a smartphone to create visual content as long as you pay attention to the quality and performance of your posts.
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