Lately many Facebook marketers have seen a massive drop in reach on their Page updates.
The truth is that the drop in reach for many Pages is a caused by an increase of more relevant posts in their fan’s Newsfeed.
Facebook explains this drop in reach:
Because the content in News Feed is always changing, and we’re seeing more people sharing more content, Pages will likely see changes in distribution. For many Pages, this includes a decline in organic reach. We expect this trend to continue as the competition for each story remains strong and we focus on quality.
The News Feed isn’t unfair, it’s just impartial
Facebook has always used an algorithm to determine what Facebook users will most likely prefer in their increasingly noisy News Feeds. But using Facebook ads is only one way to reach your Facebook fans.
Here are nine more you can share with them:
1. Repost Your Top Ten – Go into your Facebook page Insights and rank your content by engagement rate. Repost the best ones that were originally published more than three months ago.
2. Post Awesome Content – When you understand what’s been working on your page, you’ll do it more! But how can you go beyond what has worked? Ask yourself:
- What would it look like if your posts were unbelievably remarkable?
- What would get people talking?
- How can your Page become a “goto” source for a specific topic?
The bottom line is that content is king on Facebook. Take full responsibility for yours! Seek out patterns. Are they mostly photos? If so, what subjects do they have in common? Do they have a call-to-action?
And what can you learn from the comments in these updates? You get the idea.
3. Don’t Cross-Post – I’ve written about why cross-posting is a bad idea before, so you can read more about that here. Briefly, the intent of cross-posting is to save time and effort, which is the opposite intent needed to create a vibrant community.
4. Post at the Best Time – Research suggests that nighttime is the best time to post, particularly around 8 PM.
This makes sense when you think about it – most people work during the day, come home and have dinner, and then relax, watch TV and peruse their newsfeed.
But you want to confirm this with your own page insights. Take a look at your “Posts” report within Facebook Insights, and you’ll see when your fans are online.
5. Post on Weekends – People generally have more free time on the weekends to like updates in their News Feed.
Plus, because very few brands post on the weekends, there’s less competition in the newsfeed!
6. Use Your Blog – If you have a blog, you have a huge opportunity to increase visibility for your Facebook page simply by embedding relevant page updates within blog posts.
Before you embed any old updates into a blog post, use your Facebook Insights to make sure it’s high-quality. Like Facebook users, your blog readers also expect high-quality content.
7. Use Events – If you’re like most marketers, events play a central role in how you promote your business.
Use Facebook before, during and after each event to build your Facebook fan base, and increase attendance.
8. Use Email Marketing – Most businesses and nonprofits have have an email list that’s about 10X their Facebook Page fan base.
Amplify reach for your Page updates by linking to a top update in the course of your normal e-mail communications.
Because this content has already been vetted by your fans, your email subscribers will naturally like, comment on, and share it as well.
9. Use Pinterest – If you’re fan base is predominantly women, you need to be using Pinterest.
You can create more reach for your Facebook Page photos by reposting them on Pinterest and linking back to the page update. The reach report within Page Insights will show you how well this is working.