Michael Seto/Business Insider
Brian Boland, Facebook’s head of ads product marketing, recently addressed several questions that many brands have been asking for months, as organic reach within Facebook continues to dwindle for brands and publishers alike.
- Organic reach is declining due to increased content AND Facebook’s efforts to make News Feed as relevant to the user as possible
- If stories on News Feed were released in real-time, organic reach would inevitably decrease further – users only have so much time to scroll through Facebook
- Facebook will make more money due to decreasing organic reach, but the ultimate goal is to create a better user experience
- It’s definitely possible to still find success on Facebook with decreased organic reach by utilizing video content, 360 video content, and better, more creative image content
One of the most important drivers of Facebook ROI aside from increasing your ad budget may be[pwal id=”162019200″ description=”We’re working hard to make helpful content, please Like or share to unlock the rest of the article…”] revisiting your Facebook content strategy. Refreshing the type, volume, and timing of your posts can make a big difference in how your core audience interacts with your page.
1. Don’t get buried under creative challenges.
Thanks to a never-ending series of updates to the way Facebook handles content, brands have never been more challenged to achieve success in Facebook and Instagram. Creative Agencies like NOTICE focus exclusively on this problem, creating affordable content programs that generate business results, allowing brand marketers to focus on other objectives.
2. Make sure you have an effective variety of posts.
Look through your brand’s timeline. What do you see? Ideally, you’ll want a good mix of content and topics that’s relevant to your fans. If you can, try testing a mix of status updates, links, videos, and images to see what works best. Facebook Insights will show you:
But even if you find that one type of post works best for your brand, you should still use a mix of different posts. You will have a better chance at reaching more fans (and save your own sanity while crafting posts).
3. Make sure you’re posting enough, but not too much.
How often should you post on Facebook? This is widely debated, as some think you need to post multiple times per day to be noticed by fans, while others think once a day is just fine. Bottom line is, you know your audience best, so you should gauge by how often they interact. You may also want to make sure that you delete Facebook pages that no longer provide content your audience is interested in or exist as rogue brand pages. Take a look at your aggregate fan count as well, as your posting cadence can affect who will ‘unlike’ your page at any given moment. If you notice a trend, it may be time to change how often you post.
When looking at your post insights; however, make sure that you also…
4. Make sure you’re posting when your audience is online.
This sounds really easy, but as your fan count grows, the way that your core audience interacts with you will shift.
Double-checking the timing of your posts is crucial to your organic reach. While there are overall optimal times to post to each social network, you may notice a slight (or major) difference when examining your own insights.
Does your core audience consist of moms working 9-5 jobs? You may see a pickup before work, or later in the evening after they’ve put the kids to bed and finally have time for themselves. If your core audience consists of college students, maybe there is an optimal time in the middle of the day when they check posts (or during class).
The best integrated marketing case studies of 2017 include Facebook as a core element. Overall, revisiting your posting strategy on Facebook is well worth the extra time, especially if you would like to optimize your organic reach. Refreshing content will not only help increase your post reach, but hopefully increase engagement as well.[/pwal]
