As some of you may have noticed, Facebook is notorious for making platform and algorithm changes often, and usually without warning or explanation. Why? Well, they make these changes because their purpose, as they say, is to connect people. And these changes, in theory, present users with what the algorithms interpret as most interesting or relevant to them. Which usually results in frustration for many. But it’s especially difficult and frustrating for business pages who are constantly working to build their Facebook reach and engagement.
The Biggest Change Affecting Your Facebook Reach
The “Your Pages Feed” Feature
Have you noticed your Facebook reach dropping in the past few weeks or months? Well, part of that is due to one of the more recent changes Facebook made. It removed the “See Pages Feed” option from Facebook Business pages. You know those little boxes on the right side of your Business Home Page with things like your follower count and the Actions on Page tabs?
Well, there used to be a link that you may or may not have noticed, that’s now missing—the “See Pages Feed”. This is where you could go and see what all the pages you were following were posting in the form of a newsfeed. It was a highly convenient and useful tool for business pages to keep up with comparable pages, to like, engage, and interact with your larger community
Why this Affects Your Facebook Reach and Engagement
This feature was extremely important in getting more organic reach and exposure to potential new followers because you could engage with, and share to other pages, which allowed your posts to reach the audience of those pages. It’s now gone. It’s disappeared before and been resurrected, so perhaps it will return again. But because we don’t know for sure—trust me, I’ve looked and there is no official word on it out there—we have to find new ways to maintain our reach and engagement. I’ll tell you about a few options below.
How the Algorithms Decide
As I mentioned in the introduction, Facebook’s constantly adapting algorithms are created with the mission to make it easier to connect with your followers and those you follow, to allow you to see the most relevant-to-you types of posts. How do the algorithms decide this, you ask? By tracking who and what you tend to engage with most. When you like, comment or share a post, the algorithms—bless their hearts—show you more content that they deem similar or relevant. One may also say that it limits your experience on the platform, and it certainly can limit your page’s reach.
But Facebook was created for engagement and that’s its priority, all in the name of authenticity. Which can be great for individual users, but not so great for business pages. Facebook algorithms see content on business pages as less authentic, and more self-promoting. Which of course, it is! That’s the nature of the Business Page, and the reason it is so important that you have a high engagement rate. In fact, in the name of authenticity, Facebook fairly recently deprioritized posts explicitly asking for likes, shares, and comments. So, don’t do that!
What Can You Do About it?
There are ways to work around these changes to keep up your Facebook reach and engagement. These are features that you can use to your advantage to increase your reach if you use them right. I’ve listed to of the best options below.
Facebook Groups
An excellent way to maintain engagement and reach while skirting these ever-shifting algorithmic changes is by creating a Facebook Group. Because Facebook reach is determined by engagement, you still want to have relevant and engaging content. Those most engaged, loyal followers and fans are the ones who see your content most often. Which leaves you in a bit of a pickle. Because you likely want to reach as many followers as possible, and draw in new followers, you need a higher reach. But to get a higher reach, you have to have higher engagement. That’s why the “See Pages Feed” feature was so valuable to your organic reach. Sheesh! I know. But luckily, even a small, loyal group can be key to your growth.
Psst! Tune in next week for my post on how just a few loyal followers can really build your brand.
Anyway, Facebook Groups is the solution to this little problem! In a Facebook Group, everyone in that group is there because they’re interested in the topic. And that leads to automatic engagement. It also creates a community of like-minded individuals who share a similar interest. Of course, you can set your own group rules and keep it private or public, depending on what level of work you want to put into it.
Another advantage is that group members do a lot of the posting too. They can interact with you and among themselves.You’ll also get a great feel for what your audience is really interested in, and maybe some new ideas! And because it’s your group you can promote your book there, you can share links to your blogs, you can even ask group members to follow your Facebook Business Page. It’s YOUR group! Best of all, you can build a loyal community of fans and followers. As far as your personal brand goes, the rules about authenticity and value still apply, however, so don’t get too spammy.
Boosting
Ah, boosting. Of course your Facebook reach will go up when you boost your posts, that’s what it’s intended for after all. Boosting isn’t organic reach, but I suggest you take advantage of the power of boosting on Facebook—with some caveats.
When you boost, don’t do it too often. It can be tempting to boost everything, all the time! You want those followers and you’ve seen your numbers jump significantly when you boost a good post. But don’t get caught in that trap. For one, your budget will really take a hit. And I know Facebook is constantly reminding you that you should boost your posts, especially the ones with high engagement. But here are some basic Do’s and Don’ts of boosting.
Don’t boost any post that’s not your original content
You want potential followers to follow you for your unique perspective and content. Otherwise, they may not become loyal followers. You may find a great article, and it may get a lot of engagement from your followers, but essentially, you’re promoting someone else. And, I suggest sharing your highest quality content, of course. Boosting is also a great way to promote your book or your event. Just don’t overdo it. Only boost it once!
Don’t boost more than once a week
Not only will you potentially blow your budget quickly, Facebook’s ever-analyzing algorithms will eventually flag it as spam, or spam-like content. They’ll probably still take your money, but you’ll get less reach, therefore getting less out of your budget.
Define Your Audience
You need to reach the right audience with your boosted posts or you’re wasting time and money. To find your audience, you’ll need to do a bit of research. If you look over your Facebook analytics, you’ll see when your audience is online, what devices they view from, etc. Use that information wisely when defining your audience. You also want to target those with interests in your topic or niche. You can find more tips about that HERE!
Yes, all this means a little more work for you, or your copywriter, or social media manager. But that’s the nature of social media. You have to put in the work, create content, engage, and be aware of the ever-changing algorithms that affect engagement and reach. The good news is that Facebook is still the most used platform for audience engagement and following for brands and businesses—even more than Instagram!
So give some of these tips a try and let me know if you notice a difference in your engagement and reach!
