Why is the organic reach on Facebook declining?
Organic reach has hit an all time rock bottom low of 2% but what’s disturbing is that it continues to decrease. Contrary to the many ways to obtain more clients with Facebook ads splashed across the internet, it isn’t surprising any more that having a massive Facebook fan base doesn’t reflect the status it used to. And with 56 million Facebook users who don’t advertise their products and services, it must be a frustration for the administrators. However, too many businesses are still swimming against the 2012 tide, hoping beyond hope that organic reach will be resurrected to its former glory when they post more often than they used to.
Sorry, that ship sailed some time ago. But there is some good news on the horizon, and it means that you can make a significant impact on your organic reach via paid efforts. There will always be a cost involved in serious marketing. It cannot be escaped.
So what methods are available?
1. Ensure Your Content is Optimised to Provoke Shares
Content remains king. High share-ability is not a distant, near-impossible goal. It means you’ve got to optimise your content to generate shares. You’ve probably done it, scrolled through your Facebook news feed, and gotten lost in some of the most compelling content ever to hit your screen. You’ve shared some of those feeds yourself but did it occur to you, the reason why you felt driven to share? Those news feeds are the fodder that makes people pause and read. They’re show-stopping, inspiring and you can almost hear people exclaim “OMG I’ve got to share this!”
2. Active Advertisers Reap The Rewards
The Facebook news feeds algorithms are the sought after treasure that is rewarded to active advertisers. They take the time to post engaging content. They get more comments, more shares and their posts achieve a better reach. Now, not all of their posts are paid ads; they’re also organic so bear in mind that not everything you post needs to be backed by the dollar. Posting content that never fails to get a grip on your audience’s attention is the best way to bring your audience to you. One particular video post which is not only hilarious to watch but also extremely potent is this one by photo book publishing company Chatbooks. Sure, they invested in the professional acting ability of a woman who could deliver their purpose, but the results have been mesmerising. Since October 2016 this video has experienced a staggering 63 million views, and that number is growing exponentially.
I’m not for one moment suggesting you go out and spend a few thousand hiring an agency who can provide a professional actress. By watching the video, you’ll see the perfect example of absolute adherence to a message that is absolutely relevant to what we’re talking about here. However, the investment, as you can imagine has returned its value ten-fold.
3. Keep Up the Momentum ~ Keep ‘Em Entertained
The extra reward for Chatbooks is that they sporadically post the video to the top of their page which is one of the most overlooked strategies in Facebook marketing efforts. It keeps the high-performance momentum continuous, not to mention the entertainment. They also published the same video on their YouTube channel, as you do, and have enjoyed the thrill of over 6 million views. Also, bear in mind as you place your posts that not every one of them requires a call to action (CTA). When you offer a combination of laughter, value, content that educates and also entertains, your promotional posts will work their magic on their own. Consider one promotional post to five non-promotional posts and keep your calls to action simple.
4. Traction Before Ads
When you’re paying for your ads, allow your posts an exposure of between 1 and 24 hours and acquire the organic traction they require. When you’ve reached that stage is when you boost your ad. Increased organic reach can be iffy, and there is no guarantee that your Facebook posts are going to rocket. However, there are ways you can make your content more shareable.
Video is perhaps the most popular attention grabber and while on Facebook, it can yield triple the engagement of your audiences sharing ability. In fact, native video yields 1200 percent more share-ability than text posts and images combined. A native video has the ability to reward with a broader reach than a video from YouTube. Time spent on a video has not been factored out by Facebook either. Facebook prefers longer videos in the news feed, and video is perfect to gain more visibility and reach. There’s no authoritative answer to what Facebook means by longer videos, but if you target 5 to 20 minutes or more if you can manage, Facebook is testing mid-roll video ads in videos of longer than 90 seconds which is the reason for longer news feed videos.
5. Deliver Content Differently
Posting content on Facebook can be done in several different ways.
- Video
- Slides
- Photos
- Text
Mixing up your deliveries is a great way to keep your audience entertained as well as informed. If you’re under pressure and out of time, a text post is the shot. When you offer different mediums throughout your post deliveries, you’re offering posts that will more likely be viewed by users you didn’t imagine would come this far out of their way. Take note of that content that received a lot of attention. This is the one you can repost at a later date to maintain the momentum and keep the interest flowing. It also gives people who didn’t see it the first time around, a chance to do so now, while it also gives others a chance to share it.
If you have content more suited to a particular group of Facebook users, you might consider using Facebook’s Audience Optimisation tool which allows you to choose the appropriate audience for your content. To access this tool, click on the Target icon on your page post composer. There are a lot of hidden options you can use with the Audience Optimisation tool. The Preferred Audience tab is there to select interest tags which will show topics to people who indicated they have an interest in them. You can also select restrictions in relation to location, age, gender and language.
Conclusion
While we’ve endeavored to assist in varying your marketing strategies, we’re also aware that there have been several reports purporting Facebook ads as a staggering waste of money. Investing in ads wisely has its advantages but so does getting the best performance out of other strategies. Take advantage of Facebook’s conversion lift measurement feature to test ad creativity and figure out what is driving your clients to you. You then have further insight into the ways you’ve used to broadcast your messages and stick with what works.