31 Aug Is Facebook organic reach dead?
Is Facebook organic reach dead?
Is Facebook organic reach dead? This is a question I’m getting asked more and more by my clients and followers? However, Facebook still has a MASSIVE following so to completely move away from it would be supid!! Facebook still has potential if it’s done right.
Facebook runs with an algorithm, which alot of businesses state is killing them. I’m getting more and more clients moving away from it as their main platform but in the meantime implementing my improvements and new social media strategies for their business (keep reading to find out what they are). All of my clients still use Facebook for marketing, however, incorporate other channels too. Also note these are also tested and evaluated upon conversion and audience engagement. Each business is different so a platform that works really well for one won’t necessarily work great for another.
Also: If you didn’t know Instagram is also owned by Facebook and has a controlled algorithm. You do now!
I can understand that it’s frustrating, however, the beginning of Facebook was for people to interact with each other on a personal level and then businesses got involved with the use of Facebook business pages and clouded this. So, we need to look a little deeper.
Let’s talk about the techy stuff and numbers
If you’re new to all this techy language stuff then let me explain the basics. If your customers don’t interact with your business page on Facebook by liking content, sharing it or commenting, Facebook then thinks because of the algorithm that they don’t want to see any content from your page and stops putting it into your newsfeed. You will then stop seeing updates from the page. The only way to get this back is to physically go onto the page and start engaging with it again.
When you post content onto your page, be it a video, picture post etc then this is classed as organic reach (free). The organic reach has dramatically dropped over the years and owners are stating they have a 2% to 2.8% organic reach. Organic reach now only counts when the post hits a persons screen. Mark Zuckerberg quoted us the following quote and this change then lost him around £3.3 billion by doing so!!
“Recently we’ve gotten feedback from our community that public content — posts from businesses, brands, and media — is crowding out the personal moments that lead us to connect more with each other.”
After this quote the changes started to suffice.
When you look at the 2% organic reach then your page is really going to decrease with engagement and people seeing it.
So what can we do to improve this?
Ways you can grow your Facebook page with the algorithm
Quality not quantity
Everyone was always told to post 2 to 3 times per day with Facebook to generate a good following and engagement.
It’s not about that anymore, it’s about quality posts.
The types of post that will wow, help, support are what your audience wants to see. Good engaging content.
When there are fewer posts they have more chance of being seen in newsfeeds. (crazy right, but true!)
When you review this you can then ask yourself the question “Is Facebook organic reach dead?”
Make use of times
Oh this old chestnut I hear your say but when you make use of times on Facebook and know the right times to post, when the most people are online etc you will get more views.
Check your industry times and use your insights to track when the posts get the most engagement.
Know your audience
I can’t shout this enough “KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE” Find your tribe and know what they want from you.
Have you asked your followers and customers what type of posts they would like to see from you?
Have you asked your customers what they search for on Google to find the type of businesses like yours?
By tapping into your audience and getting to know them you are at the starting block of being able to put great, relevant content onto your page, which in turn will lead to engagement.
Also a great tip is not to run competitions to like, comment or share or ask your followers to do the same. The truth about these are that Facebook will give you a lower reach for this type of post and it could put you in Facebook jail or worse get rid of your page altogether (yes this does happen)
People buy from people
Don’t give it the hard sell on every post! Buyers hate to see this and can unlike the page if it gets too much.
People want to see how you can help and support them.
Let’s imagine you own a florist. You could be posting:
- Customer reviews,
- How to care for your flowers,
- How to feed them,
- How to make them last longer.
Don’t be afraid to put a little bit of you into the posts so people get to know the face behind the brand.
Inserting links to your website on every post will also penalise you on Facebook so think about this when trying to redirect to your website.
Let’s summarise
- Facebook wants you to engage with your community
- Develop a new strategy to improve how and what you post
- Think about your customers and followers, what do they want. Sometimes what we think they want is completely different!
- Test your new strategies out
- Take a look at the services I offer here and see if I can be of any assistance with your social media presence
- Carry out a review of your social media after testing then re-evaluate is Facebook organic reach dead or is just a matter of changing your strategy and doing things differently to enhance engagement.
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