Are you wanting to get your Facebook posts in front of more people? It might seem like you’re putting in lots of effort, but hardly anyone seems to be seeing your posts at all, let alone responding to them.
If you don’t have the budget for Facebook ads – or you just want to make the most of your organic reach on Facebook – then here’s what you can do.
What Exactly Is Your Organic Reach on Facebook?
On Facebook, your “organic reach” is the number of people who saw your post in their news feed (or on your page itself) organically. That means it didn’t appear in their news feed as the result of an ad.
So how can you boost your organic reach? These 6 tips and tricks should help:
1. Figure Out the Best Time To Publish
If you do one thing, make it this one: keep a close eye on when your posts get the most engagement. As with other social networks, certain times of the day – and certain days of the week – will often see much more engagement on Facebook than others.
It’s hard for a post to get a good organic reach if it’s published while all your followers are asleep or busy at work. Experiment with different times of day to see when you’re most likely to get lots of comments, reactions, and shares. Then, make a schedule (or automate your posts) so you’re always publishing at the best times.
2. Publish Videos on Facebook
Videos are hugely popular with all sorts of different target audiences, and publishing videos on Facebook itself (rather than simply linking to videos on YouTube) can help to grow your reach.
Going live on Facebook is even better, with almost double the reach of non-live video. If you’re nervous about going live, make sure you’re well prepared and practice ahead of time. Keep in mind that people won’t expect your Facebook Live to be perfect and polished; instead, they want to see your human side.
Wouldn’t it be great to boost your organic reach without any effort on your part? Well, you can! Using a Facebook share button for a website means spending just a few minutes setting things up and reaping the rewards for months and years to come.
If website visitors find your content useful or interesting, they’re likely to want to share it, giving you a much greater organic reach (as your content will reach their friends and potentially even their friends-of-friends).
4. Be Human and Approachable
Social media users enjoy seeing the human, approachable – even playful – side of brands. Make sure your Facebook updates convey your brand’s personality, perhaps with jokes, funny images, or a down-to-earth approach.
Another great way to humanize your social media presence is to feature people from within your company. This could be a team photo, a profile of the employee of the month, or perhaps a “guest post” on social media from an employee who doesn’t normally manage the social media account.
5. Vary the Types of Content You Create
One poll might get great engagement, but ten polls in a single week almost certainly won’t. Don’t overdo things with one type of Facebook content. Instead, improve your organic reach by sharing different types of content.
Think about visual interest, too; content with an image is much more likely to get noticed than content without one. If you do have mostly text-based updates, you could create a quick graphic to go along with them, using your brand’s colors and fonts.
6. Engage with Comments
Once you’ve posted a piece of content, you might think you’re done with it, but it’s important to regularly check in on that content and respond to comments. This helps encourage people to keep responding to your brand on Facebook, as they know someone is listening to what they say. Of course, it can also help in plenty of other ways – encouraging prospective customers to buy, for instance, because they’ve been able to get their questions answered quickly.
The Facebook algorithm will pay attention to how many comments your posts get, too. The more you respond, the more you’ll find other people commenting – helping to boost your organic reach.
Growing your organic reach on Facebook takes time and some effort, and it’s certainly not as quick as reaching a bigger audience through paid ads. However, the work you put in will be well worthwhile. Choose at least one of the above tips or tricks to try this week – and keep track of how your organic reach grows.