Over the past few years, Facebook's social media reach has declined. In fact, organic reach on social media platforms has plummeted overall.
Businesses trying to promote themselves on platforms like Facebook must be retooling their approach to stay ahead of the competition.
Knowing when it's reasonable to pay for advertising on social media and how to balance paid reach with organic is an essential skill in doing this.
The decline of social media reach
It's evident that organic reach on social media isn't what it used to be, but to understand why that is, we need to look at the algorithms behind this change.
Social media platforms like Facebook are adopting new content algorithms molded after those used by search engines.
The reason for this shift is quite simple: money. Social media platforms want to increase their advertising revenue by dropping organic reach in favor of paid advertising.
Social media's SEO
This new algorithm aims to create a more positive user experience that's very similar to search engine optimization (SEO).
Here's how it works: the algorithm puts your posts in a pool that's only visible to an extremely small percentage of your followers.
As more followers engage with the posts, the pool expands to include a larger percentage.
Basically, this system rewards user engagement -- more people see your posts overall, but only if the posts are engaging.
Unfortunately, what's considered engaging isn't always clearly defined and varies between platforms.
Below are some tips to help you use the algorithm to your advantage and create shareable content to promote your brand.
Determine the area of focus
Most businesses make the mistake of assuming they need a presence on every social media platform known to man; however, it's more likely that your audience is concentrated in just a select few.
Don't spread yourself too thin. Here's how you can determine which platforms to prioritize in your social media marketing efforts.
Audience surveys
The best way to find out where your audience is is to simply ask them. Consider using a survey through email or by calling past customers under the pretense of wanting to catch up.
Follow the numbers
Blogs provide built-in analytic tools that allow you to see what your audience is sharing and where. Following these numbers will give you a better sense of which platforms to focus on.
Remember what I said earlier about the algorithms on social media platforms being similar to the ones used by search engines like Google? Well, that means that the same principles apply as well.
Here's where understanding SEO will help you out big time. Some of those tactics you may already be familiar with include:
Consistent posting
Content variety
Using keywords and phrases
Having trackable backlinks
Evergreen Content
The lifespan of one of your posts can vary greatly when you consider the unmitigated enormity of content posted on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter every day.
A constant stream of information inundates us; as soon as something happens, people know about it, which plays a significant role in the success of viral marketing.
That's why you should aim to produce evergreen content that's always relevant, such as:
Content that seeks to address a persistent issue within your industry
Original content
Content that uses shock or humor to engage with your audience
Informative posts that serve as educational resources
In summary
You should think of your social media marketing the same way you think of your SEO strategy.
By prioritizing quality content, user experience, and optimization, you'll be able to beat your competition by maximizing user engagement.
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