If you do any kind of social media marketing, you’ve probably heard about mighty “Facebook algorithms”. Have the jeepers yet? We understand. It’s easy to avoid this like the plague, since the word ‘algorithm’ implies something unnecessarily complicated. While it is complicated for the developers running Facebook behind the scenes, it’s actually pretty easy to understand for front-end Facebook marketers.
Facebook algorithms are basically what developers create to determine what Facebook users will see in their newsfeed.
So what’s changed in recent years? Huge changes were made in 2018 that are still affecting businesses and social media marketers to this day. Facebook developers wanted to improve the user experience by facilitating, what they call, “meaningful interactions”. In other words, they wanted to promote quality over quantity by helping users see more relevant, trustworthy content and have a better overall experience on Facebook. They achieved this by promoting content created by friends and family as well as content that is relevant, original and helpful for the user.
While the intention was good, it caused an entire overhaul for social media marketers, causing them to completely rethink their strategies for how to get the word out about businesses. This was a huge disadvantage for these marketers, seeing that Facebook was and still is the most popular social media platform for business advertising.
What are the repercussions? Organic reach for businesses on Facebook is at an all-time low. On the other hand, paid advertising has been trending upward because it has shown to produce greater visibility and results. In short, businesses are now needing to pay money to be seen.
To re-cap, Facebook developers have decreased the visibility of salsey content while increasing visibility for meaningful and personal content in order to improve user experience.
Successful Facebook Marketing in 2020
Now for the good news. While the changes to Facebook’s algorithm seem daunting to all social media marketers out there, they certainly don’t have to be! Here are some ways to engage your audience while still getting seen on Facebook.
Consider Feelings
It’s time to think about your Facebook strategy in terms of feelings. That’s right! You want to try to appeal to your audience’s feelings as much as possible.
Consider ways in which you can inspire an audience in a way that is genuine and doesn’t involve sales-oriented content.
With that being said, ask yourself, what would make your audience naturally want to engage with your posts? Some examples include content that provokes strong emotions, initiates a debate, includes exciting news, shares empathy-invoking stories, or instills curiosity and thoughtfulness.
As long as you remember the words natural, genuine and emotional, you can create content that will motivate your audience to naturally share and comment on your posts.
Put In The Effort
Some of the best performing posts on Facebook include original content that offers valuable content. (Example: A live video from a business coach providing a few tips on how to grow your business.) You’re offering content that is both free AND helpful to your audience.
A bonus? They can see the face behind the posts. Users see so much content on social media on a daily basis, so coming out from behind the computer curtain can help you to stand out amongst thousands of other graphical or text-based content.
Think about your Facebook content the same way that you think about your website. If you’re a business owner, you’ve probably taken the steps or hired someone to optimize your website with keywords, add in compelling copy that inspires users to stay on the site, provided free resources, and overall, done all that you can to make the user experience as easy as possible.
The same goes for creating content on your Facebook page. Keep that in mind and you just might start seeing higher engagement.
Do Things Differently
Facebook has been programmed to celebrate “meaningful content” and reduce the visibility of content that is consistently put out to generate sales or clicks. The algorithms are helping Facebook get smarter by the day and it’s becoming easier for it to determine the intention behind posts.
With that being said, there are a couple of things to do to ensure your posts get seen.
Stay away from clickbait! What is clickbait? It’s possible that you don’t even notice it anymore while scrolling through your newsfeed because there’s so much of it. Clickbait refers to posts that seem more like spam than content that you’d like to read. They usually include some form of “bait” that motivates users to click on it, for example, “vote now for a 25% discount!” or “tag 10 friends for a free coupon!” Avoid this at all costs…Facebook sure is!
Additionally, try not to overdo or underdo it on the hashtags. Some marketers use too many, some don’t use any. Contrary to some beliefs, hashtags CAN be helpful for post visibility if used correctly. Select your hashtags carefully and choose only those that have proven to be successful on other channels such as Instagram and that are relevant to your industry. Don’t throw them into a post randomly, but rather do your research to see if there are posts similar to yours that are using them and receiving active engagement.
Finally, use a video every now and then. Videos are doing exceptionally well on Facebook these days, observed to have a much higher engagement rate than photos. An extra bonus is that the new Facebook algorithms favor videos and will even give them a boost so they have high visibility in your audience’s new feeds.
Hopefully, with these helpful tips, you can get back on track with growing your Facebook following and boosting sales. We know…it’s tricky, but staying on top of the trends can make your marketing life that much easier…and successful!
If you are a growing business that’s ready to grow your Facebook following, we’re here to support you in becoming well-known in your market. We are a full-service brand and marketing agency that has helped hundreds of growing businesses and organizations tell their story and make an impact in the market. Contact Kudzu Brands today!