At the end of June, Facebook announced changes to the news feed. These changes are based on the top priority of the news feed to connect users to the “people, places and things they want to be connected to”. This change will show more updates from people users care about higher in their newsfeed. As users rejoice, businesses once again are left wondering how this will affect their reach and referral traffic.
Facebook, in a companion post diving deeper into these news feed changes, told page owners that the update “may cause reach and referral traffic to decline for some Pages”. They go on to explain that pages with more referral traffic, that which is the result of friend shares, likes and comments, will see less of an impact. What it all comes down to is the more people engage with your content, the better your reach.
Engaging content comes in all shapes and sizes, here are some tips to help you put your best content forward on Facebook to spur engagement, and improve your reach!
- Go beyond the sales pitch. You would not watch a television station that only aired commercials or read a newspaper filled with only advertisements. The same goes for your Facebook Page. Of course, you need to let people know about your specials and sales but, there’s more to you and your company, show them that.
- Mix it up. Use photos, videos, and links in addition to text statuses. People are attracted to different types of media. By including various type in your content you will appeal to larger sections of your audience.
- Get creative, think outside the box. Share unique uses for a product, videos demonstrating product uses, employee interviews or bios. Tell stories about how your product or service solved someone’s problem, share client milestones.
- Ask questions. Anything you post that asks people to share their opinion or solution is great! “How are you keeping cool this balmy July day?”, “What’s your family’s first day of school tradition?” “What’s your best tip for a new owner of (insert product name here)? “ Social media is all about social interaction (it’s right there in the name!) and people love to contribute, let them know you encourage it!
- Use Facebook insights. Here you can find information about what times of day your followers are most active (not always the same times that the majority of your fans are online) which will help you choose when to share posts.
You can tell which type of posts get the most interaction be it pictures, videos or site links. It will even help you determine the makeup of your fans: age, gender, location, so you can tailor your efforts to their “language”. The Reach tab will help you track your results of your efforts.
It may take a little effort but using these tips will help you combat the newsfeed changes and make sure your business is seen in your fans’ news feeds.