Be Friends With Facebook – Ensure Your Business Is Seen
Facebook Tips for your Business
Over 1 billion people use Facebook and more than half of those users visit the site every single day. That’s a huge platform and if you’re not currently utilising Facebook for your business, now is the time!
Bristol based social media agency Visionary Media would like to introduce your business to the huge potential social media has to offer.
Building your audience is an important part of your social media strategy. However, your Page could have thousands or even millions of likes but its organic reach (that’s the term for the number of people who see your posts without you paying) could be less than you think. With thousands of posts in the running to appear on your audience’s newsfeeds per day, what can you do to make sure that yours is more likely to be shown?
A recent release from Facebook is pushing business Pages towards paid advertising by announcing that there will be restrictions on the types of posts that will show to your audience. This decision stems from research suggesting that people ‘wanted to see more stories from friends and Pages they care about, and less promotional content’. Here are a few examples of posts that will now be less likely to show in your audience’s newsfeed:
- Posts that solely push people to buy a product or install an app
- Posts that push people to enter promotions and sweepstakes with no real context
- Posts that reuse the exact same content from ads
You can find out more about these newsfeed changes here: https://www.facebook.com/business/news/update-to-facebook-news-feed
If your Facebook Page is used for promotional content this doesn’t mean you should stop posting on your business Page and direct all of your efforts in to paid advertising. Your Page is still an important part of your online strategy and is a great tool for engaging with your audience and providing an online presence for people to learn about your business.
‘Businesses should think about their Page as a cornerstone of their online identity, not simply as a publishing service. The businesses that are doing this well understand the discovery and communication that happens when people come to their Page.’ – Facebook
Just like Google, Facebook has an algorithm to determine which posts are shown to users. Whilst you can never guarantee that your posts will reach ALL of your audience, there are a few things that you can do which will help:
Post consistently
Facebook wants you to be consistent with your posts so that your audience know what kind of messages to expect from you
Target your posts
Post something that is relevant to your audience, or part of your audience, using post targeting (including age, gender and more)
Recency
More recent posts are more likely to show in your audience’s newsfeeds. The newer your posts, the more interesting people will find them.
Likes
Facebook sees Pages with a higher amount of likes as more respectable and this in turn means your posts are more likely to show in your audience’s newsfeeds
Videos
Keep them short – Facebook monitors how engaged your audience are – if they only watch a small duration of your video it appears to be less engaging and is less likely to be shown
Review
Review regularly which type of posts worked well for you – video/link/image? – the posts which get the most engagement should help you plan your strategy moving forward
All of the above should increase the engagement from your audience, showing Facebook that they really are interested in the content your Page is posting. Don’t let your Facebook Page get lost in the crowd! Make sure that your content is relevant and engaging and ensure that you review your activity to make sure you’re getting the most from your Page.
Bristol based social media experts Visionary Media provide full social media strategies to assist with your online presence, brand awareness and customer engagement. If you are looking for a robust social media strategy to increase your online success then please give us a call on 0800 049 5479!
