One of the most popular misconceptions that I come across, is the belief that every status update a business posts on Facebook goes out to each and every one of their “Likers”, this has unfortunately never been the case, but alas things are going to get worse…
If you haven’t already noticed a drop in the organic post reach from your business page, it’s likely that you will soon, as a recent Facebook document stated “We expect organic distribution of an individual page’s posts to gradually decline over time as we continually work to make sure people have a meaningful experience on the site.” What this means in short is that businesses who want to have their status updates seen more regularly will need to set aside a budget for boosting posts or for Facebook advertising.
This has not come as a real surprise, and I have been dabbling in Facebook ads for some time now, especially when running promotions on a business page. It has, however, led to much public outcry amongst marketeers, many of whom are ready to shut down their pages.
Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water… would be my advice to you. Keep your Facebook presence and continue to work at engaging your community, but there’s no doubt that you’ll need to think more strategically about the content you post.
- Ask yourself if you would find it valuable?
- Does it answer a question your audience might have?
- Is it entertaining?
- Most importantly of all, would you share, like or comment on that content yourself?
My second piece of advice would be to take a look at your Facebook Insights, work out for yourself what type of post your audience are engaging with. Is there a specific time of day that sees more likes, comments and shares? If there is, stick to that time, use the scheduler if you need to.
My third piece of advice would be to set aside some of your advertising budget to use on Facebook. Facebook promoted posts and advertising will still be relatively cost-effective compared to main stream media advertising costs.
