Since Facebook decreased the impact of post reach last year, it has become harder to penetrate the News Feed of your followers.
This is a big blow for cash-strapped business owners and entrepreneurs. While the decrease in post reach is attributed to the junk that appears on people's News Feed from different pages, this puts earnest businesses who are intent on building a legitimate audience on Facebook at a disadvantage.
It did not make things easier for them when Facebook once again updated the News Feed to keep certain posts from pages to appear in the feeds of users.
To counter the changes, Facebook is aggressively offering Page owners to increase post reach...for a price.
While the costs of using the Boost Post and Promote Your Page features are flexible, some businesses may want to explore free alternatives first before plunging into the platform's paid promotions.
If you are looking for such solutions to your Facebook promotions problem, then look no further than this post. I will detail some of the most effective tactics that you can employ in your social media strategy to make the most out of your limited resources and increase your fans.
Make a beautiful profile
Nobody would like an incomplete Facebook Page.
Therefore, establishing a Facebook Page profile is of utmost importance before you can even dream of having hundreds nad thousands of followers.
Uploading the best profile and cover photos of your business should get you started. Also, update the About section of your Facebook Page to provide visitors a better understand of your business.
However, these are just some of the many factors that you need to consider when completing your Facebook Page.
Check this article from Meltwater out to learn the other things that you need to edit. It mentions setting up goals and provide examples of Facebook Pages with clearly defined goals for your inspiration.
Link to your Facebook Page on your site or blog
Pretty simple in principle, but receiving substantial amounts of likes to your Facebook Page from your site or blog can be a challenge.
The key is making it easy for visitors to follow you on Facebook from your site or blog.
Placing the Like buttons on places that can be seen easily (header, top sidebar, and other areas above the fold) can encourage visitors to like your Page from there.
You also have to decide whether to use simply a Facebook button or the Facebook Box Like that shows the number of followers you currently have. It depends on the response of visitors to either, so you may have to conduct an A/B test to see which produces the best results.
Also, you can use a pop-up box like HelloBar or SumoMe so visitors will clearly see that you want them to like your Facebook Page.
Other methods include adding a link to your Facebook Page from your newsletters and digital assets (ebooks, white papers) to name a few.
Curate awesome content
You cannot expect people to like your Facebook Page if you do not have any content in it.
Furthermore, you need to diversify the kind of content your post on your Page. Promoting your content can also get you so far.
"Sharing your blog content on social media is an art," says Jamie Spencer in this post. "There is no right way to do it. People have success sharing blog content in their unique ways. Some will share only their blog links on social media. Others will share a high percentage of unique content on social media."
The latter is the reason you need to curate content from other sites!
The purpose of content curation is to build trust and authority in your niche. By posting high-quality content on your Facebook Page (even if you did not write it), you can gain confidence and respect of your audience.
Doing this successfully will help you gather more likes to your Page!
You can begin by using a tool like Feedly to collect feeds from blogs that produce exceptional content within your industry. Take time every day to check out the latest posts from the tool and make the ones that you can promote on your Page.
It is better if you have a content strategy in place when choosing the type of posts to promote on your Page. For example, you share how-to posts every Mondays, infographics every Tuesdays, videos every Wednesdays, and so on. This allows you to organize the content you will share and lets your audience anticipate on the content you will post.
Schedule the posting of content on your Page at the best times possible. The idea here is to maximize the number of people online who can see your posts.
Note: To hike up click-through rates from the post, you will need to apply the magic of copywriting in your post.
Ever wondered why ViralNova was bought by Zealot Media for a cool $100M?
The secret is in the headlines.
The site employs particular headline strategies to get more users to click on their content.
While the site relied heavily on Facebook's Boost Post feature, there's no question that it is because of the headlines that got them to where they are now.
The example above uses curiosity to get people to click on the post. What is up with the hardwood flooring? More importantly, will the truth blow me away?
There are other types that you can employ in your Facebook posts. Check out this article from Buffer by Courtney Seiter about the different headline strategies.
Since we are dealing with words, you will need tools to help carefully craft your copy and use the best versions possible.
The CoSchedule Headline Analyzer is an excellent tool to use to develop the best headline for your post. Enter as many versions for your post and the tool will compute the score for each based on different factors.
Another tool you need to consider is Grammarly. It helps detect grammatical errors in your post before publishing so you will not upset grammar nazis out there.
Create engagement
Connecting with your audience and followers is crucial to building a successful Facebook Page.
This comes in the way of asking your audience questions from your posts.
You can do this by running a simple survey poll to not only get followers to chime in with their comments but also gain insight from them about a particular subject.
You can also post image quotes to deliver visual content to your audience. As study shows, images and photos are the most important tactic to apply in your social media strategy.
However, word from the wise: you do not want to clog your Page with image quotes.
"Visual content marking tactics can help you develop dialogue, differentiate yourself and communicate a value proposition -- they can HELP you do that, " says Don Sturgill in a post at PostPlanner.
"But they cannot carry the load. They are a means, not an end.
"Chances are good that you are not selling quote graphics or cute photos of cats. Have fun, but stay focused -- and stay about your buying audience (your REAL audience)."
The key here is to use image quotes as part of a governing content strategy, similar to content curation mentioned above. You need to moderate the kind of content you are posting - you cannot stick to one type all the time.
A good tactic is to not only turn inspiration quotes into images but also quotes from your content. Use Pablo by Buffer to create the picture quote in seconds.
Conclusion
As you can see from the tips above, you will need to do the legwork to make your Facebook Page attract more likes and followers. This is probably for the better especially if you have yet to define your goals in using this social media platform.
By taking the free route in building an audience from your Facebook Page, you get to share better content and gain a deeper appreciation of social media as a channel to build and maintain an audience.