Facebook organic reach isn’t dead, you just need to stop posting crappy content

When I read blog posts that lead with “Organic Reach is Dead” but then list ways on how to improve your posts to get organic reach, I’m like… WTF. That doesn’t make sense. If, like you say, organic reach is dead, why the fuck are you giving tips on how to improve your organic reach!?

Know what’s actually dead? Your local Blockbuster that used to be around the corner. I currently manage only five Facebook Pages on a monthly basis for clients and I can tell you right now, organic reach is still alive and kicking! It’s not the VHS of the internet, audiences are STILL paying attention to posts that you don’t put money behind. Sure there’s been changes in the Facebook Algorithm, but it’s important to note the Algorithm is ALWAYS changing.

For the most part, the algorithm’s strategy has always been consistent: Encourage relevant, valuable, engaging content to be published… So, stop spamming the shit out of your audience and give them a better reason for them to engage with your posts.

“As we roll this out, you’ll see less public content like posts from businesses, brands, and media. And the public content you see more will be held to the same standard — it should encourage meaningful interactions between people.” – Marky Zucky

Here are a three things to take into consideration moving forward with your Facebook Posts.

1. Social Media Management Isn’t About Filling Empty Slots

(… That’s what she said!)

You might run your own social media marketing for your business, and kudos to you if you do! I know that it’s not always the easiest and can be difficult finding content. When posting to Facebook, or any other social media platform really, don’t think about it as empty cells in your Buffer schedule you need to fill. I see it often with Social Media Managers, their package rate says they’ll post X amount of times per week or day per platform, but there’s no disclaimer saying “If there’s no new content worth sharing, you won’t see a post that day.”

If social media marketing was all about posting things for the sake of posting them, you could hire a monkey to automate your posts or find someone crappy on Kijiji for dirt cheap to execute it for you.

Start creating or curating content that serves your audience (if you haven’t already). This pretty much leads back to what Marky said, “It should encourage meaningful interactions between people”. Make your content shareworthy. Put your audience first, be selective and strategic with what you are posting. If that means posting LESS, that’s fine, your fans would rather see no post than a crappy post that makes them wonder why they Like your page in the first place.

2. Know When Your Audience is Active

Using the Insights tab, on the left-hand side click “Posts” and then at the top you’ll see a tab that says “When Your Fans Are Online”. Click that and you’ll see something similar to the below:

Neat-o! Don’t be afraid to test times out, start with the peak times you see in your Insights tab. If you’re not getting the reach or engagement you expected, try a different time.  Just check your Insights tab on a regular basis to see what times/days and types of content are performing the best. Rinse and repeat.

3. Brush Up on Inbound Marketing

When I talk to sales people about inbound marketing, they can’t wrap their heads around it.

You know when you’re looking at cars at the car dealership and the sales dude comes out of the office and you’re like “OMG here comes the sales pitch…”? Don’t be THAT business on social media. It’s called MARKETING for a reason, it’s not called SALESING (copyright that term, Beverley Theresa 2018. All rights reserved). Grab people into the funnel by, yup, you guessed it, not forcing sales, but by creating and curating strategic valuable, engaging and shareworthy content.

Nurture yo’ leads and they’ll nurture you back… With the money in their pockets!

Check out this video by my homies at SEMRush to learn more about Inbound Marketing.

RIP Bad Content

It’s proven that organic reach isn’t dead, you just need to stop posting low-quality content on Facebook. Get creative, think outside of the box. Think about what your AUDIENCE cares about.

Remember that Facebook wants users to STAY on Facebook, which is why you’ll see posts that include videos or photos will have a higher reach than ones with links leading users off Facebook.

While yes, you should have a budget for spend behind the posts that actually matter and will help convert, but you don’t have to pay for every single post.

 

So let’s stop saying organic reach is dead. Kthnx.