If you've oticed Facebook engagement is declining, you're not alone. Organic reach has declined to 6%, a drop of 49% since October 2013. Why such a substantial drop? Well, the first reason is because Facebook wants to avoid overcrowding of business page content on users' news feeds. The other reason? Facebook needs to make money so you have to pay for Facebook Ads to increase reach.
While you may not be able to crack Facebook's secret algorithm, there are things you can do to improve organic reach on Facebook. The Quick Sprout infographic below will show you which areas to focus on. In time, you'll have a higher reach and more importantly, increased engagement on the posts you create.
You may wonder how Facebook calculates what shows up on your newsfeed. Just like Google, no one knows exactly how. According to Facebook engineer Lars Backstrom, as many as 100,000 individual weights influence content in your news feed.
A few algorithm elements are public knowledge. These include post types that receive the most interaction from a user, which posts a user hides or reports as spam, a user's interaction with Facebook ads, and the device and internet speed of a user.
In addition, the three pillars of EdgeRank remain part of the current news feed algorithm:
Affinity - How much he or she interacts with your page.
Weight - Facebook places top priorities to videos and photos.
Decay - The longer your post has been around, the less likely it will be to show up in news feeds.
Your previous interactions with the author. The more you engage with a friend or page, the more likely you are to see their posts.
Your previous interactions with the post type. If you often engage with a certain type of post, you're more likely to see posts of that type.
Reactions from users who already saw the post. The more Facebook users engage with a post, the more likely you are to see that post.
Amount of complaints or negative feedback. As more users give negative feedback, the less likely you are to see that post.
Reach means very little because it is rarely a good indicator of success. According to Jon Loomer, there are better indicators of success than reach such as traffic and sales from Facebook.
With that said, growing your organic reach is still worthwhile.
Here are some tips to help you improve organic reach on Facebook:
1. Use Strategies by Fortune 500 Companies
According to a study by PR Journal in 2014, Fortune 500 companies and non-profits' top 3 Facebook strategies are the following:
Openness and Disclosure - Showing what goes on inside the company.
Access - Showing availability for customers and fans to reach and interact with the company.
Positivity - The ability to make a customer's experience enjoyable and pleasant.
2. Post at Non-Peak Times
This works under the assumption that when there's little else being shared online, your content is more likely to stand out.
3. Share Original, Behind-the-Scenes Photos of You and Your Team
When Buffer shared five original photos of their team's trip to South Africa, all five of them reached their top ten posts in the two-week period.
4. Engage Your Community With Questions
Don't try to sell or promote anything. Your only goal should be listening to the audience.
5. Share Self-Explanatory Photos
Valuable information in digestible format is a great way to show it. Pictographics and infographics are great examples of self-explanatory photos.
Now that you have some general guidelines for improving your organic reach on Facebook, it's time to put them to the test. Be consistent, post the right things at the right times, and be available to your audience. Your reach will continue to grow organically in time.