Facebook has been growing and growing for a number of years—reaching more than 1.5 billion users around the world—so it shouldn’t come as a shock that something was going to have to give eventually. And as it turns out, that “something” is the length of the average user’s feed.
There simply isn’t enough time and space for most Facebook users to see everything that’s being thrown at them. So, the company developed a new social engagement formula to help users see what they really don’t want to miss while filtering out the rest.
If you are one of the tens of millions of people who log on to Facebook daily, that’s good news. If you are a marketer who needs to reach fans and followers to sell your products or services, it’s not necessarily such a great thing (at least not at first glance). In fact, some estimates show that only 5 to 10% of the people you are connected to will see your content updates at any given time. That’s not many of them, and the issue is only getting worse.
However, there are things you can do to beat Facebook’s engagement formula, and to reach a much larger segment of the market as a result. Here are a few quick tips you can put to use starting today…
Concentrate on Your Core Audience
Don’t just post something to your Facebook business page for the sake of putting it online. Ask yourself whether it would appeal to your fans and followers strongly enough that they might like it or share it.
Use the Right Types of Content
It’s no secret that images and videos get almost all the attention on Facebook. So why do marketers insist on posting long‐winded text updates?
Encourage Likes or Shares
Don’t be afraid to ask your contacts to hit their “like” button or share your content. Your biggest fans might do so simply because you encourage them to.
Consider Boosting Your Posts
If you have great content but no one is taking a look, think about boosting your posts. For a few dollars, you can increase your viewership and hopefully bring followers back to your next set of ideas.
You can see Facebook’s engagement formula as an obstacle between you and your fans and followers, or a tool you can use to get more views and shares than your competitors. Which one will be for you?