Amid Facebook updating its algorithm to emphasize friend and family relationships, reducing the reach of business Pages, you may be worried that no one is going to see your Facebook posts anymore. While it is scary to hear that your reach could be reduced, we have some simple steps you can take to work with, rather than against, Facebook’s algorithm update.
How to Start Tracking Your Facebook Reach and Engagement
Before we get started, you’ll need to look at your current engagement and reach metrics. You can do this by going into Insights and looking at your past engagement. If you haven’t been keeping track of your Facebook performance, look at both Reach and Post Engagements over the last 28 days.
If you have been keeping track, I would look at those numbers over a three- or six-month period to give you a better idea of how your business’s Facebook Page has been performing over time.
Once you have a baseline number, figure out how much you want to improve your engagement and reach. Those numbers are up to you. You can start at 10% or shoot for 100% (or more) depending on how much time and effort you can put into improving your Facebook reach and engagement.
Now that you know where you’re starting and what your goals are, it’s time to work at improving those metrics.
How to Improve Your Facebook Engagement and Reach
- Ask followers to click the button that shows your business’s Facebook posts first.
They can do this by clicking on your page, hovering over the “Following” drop down menu and selecting “See First.”
If your followers do this, your posts will show up at the top of their news feeds, which makes this a quick work-around for Facebook’s algorithm update.
- Do a quick Facebook audit.
Take a look at your post insights and figure out which types of posts get the most reactions, comments and shares. You’ll also want to see if when you’re posting matters.
Depending on your industry, you might find that specific times of day are best for posting. For instance, with restaurants, the best times to post on social media are around meal times, so right before breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Look at how your posts do based on the time you’re posting, and try posting more often at the times that give you the best engagement.
- Post visual content such as videos, images and infographics.
Sharing visual content on Facebook can get you 37% higher engagement than text-only posts, so think about sharing videos, images and infographics on your business’s Facebook Page.
Here are some ideas of visual content you could post:
- Behind-the-scenes videos
- Tutorial videos
- Photos of employees
- Images of new or seasonal displays
- Live videos
- Post a Facebook shout-out.
We have found that we get a lot of engagement with employee or client shout-outs.
Not only is it a nice gesture, but the person/business you’re giving a shout-out to will often share the post, putting your business’s Facebook Page in front of more people. That means that shout-out posts can boost both reach and engagement on Facebook. It’s a win/win.
So, the next time someone gets employee of the month or receives a promotion, do a shout-out to them. Similarly, if you have a customer who does something nice for you, give them a shout-out on Facebook.
- Ask for engagement.
If all else fails, ask. Ask followers to like or share your posts with friends. You can also ask a question to drive more engagement, prompting followers to answer you in the comments.
This is a great way to boost engagement and find ways to interact with your followers, who will see you as a person rather than a business if they are interacting with you in comments on your Facebook posts.
Final Thoughts
Facebook’s algorithm update isn’t the end of the world. Follow these steps to make sure your business doesn’t see a drop in reach or engagement!
