Organic reach has seen a drastic decline in recent years, most notably on Facebook. Facebook made changes to its algorithm, promoting “more meaningful social interactions with family and friends” on the News Feed. Facebook prioritizes content from friends and people, making organic reach increasingly difficult for businesses and brands to achieve.
But don’t worry – there are ways to adapt to these changes and to work within pesky algorithms. Here are a few ways your business can fight the decline in organic reach:
Understand the Algorithms
To adapt to changes in the algorithm, you have to understand what you’re working with. Here are the basics on the algorithms of our top social media platforms:
- Facebook: News Feed favors friends over brands and businesses, focusing on meaningful interactions.
- Instagram: Posts ranked by popularity, relevancy, and user relationship.
- Twitter: Tweets ranked by time posted and relevance to user.
- LinkedIn: Content ranked by engagement and connection strength.
Head here for a more extensive look at each platform’s algorithm.
Share Content Your Audience Wants to See
While it may sound obvious, many brands don’t take the time to figure out the kind of content their audience wants to see. Take a look at your analytics to find the content your audience is engaging with most. Study competitors’ content and see what your content might be missing. This also means catering content to each platform.
It may save time to copy and paste a Facebook post to Twitter, but it will hurt your reach and engagement in the long run. Set up clear goals for each platform (i.e., build audience on Facebook, reach X impressions on Instagram, establish my brand as an industry leader on LinkedIn), and curate content that will help achieve those goals. And remember, keep platform algorithms in mind.
Focus on Engagement
Another way to fight organic reach decline? Put your focus towards engagement. Engaging with your audience involves more than just sharing content that gets a ton of likes. It’s about interacting with and building a relationship with your followers by responding to criticisms, having conversations, and learning from your customers.
Engaging meaningfully with your audience increases brand loyalty and helps you get a better idea of what your audience is looking for, both when it comes to content and their expectations of your brand. Plus, Facebook’s algorithm favors “meaningful interactions,” so by sparking conversation and active engagements, you can increase your brand’s reach.
Active engagements include reacting, commenting, or sharing; passive engagements include clicking, watching, and viewing/hovering. Engagement helps you reach more people while improving the quality of that reach.
However, when it comes to posting engaging content, be cautious of “engagement baiting.” Facebook has put stricter regulations on posts that ask the audience to like, share, or comment. Rather than saying “Comment your favorite summer pastime,” phrase it as a question: “What’s your favorite summer pastime?” That way, you incite conversation without directly baiting your audience.
Get on Board With Paid Advertising
Now more than ever, social media is a pay to play game. In order to see significant results from social media campaigns, you need to put some money behind your content. Paid advertising is the only way to ensure that your content will get in front of your desired audience. From ads to boosted posts and sponsored content, you’ll see higher conversions and more results with paid advertising.
Social media is now favoring content that sparks conversations and meaningful interactions. Algorithms are constantly evolving to bring the most relevant, most impactful content in front of audiences. Brands can no longer rely on organic content alone to support their social media presence, particularly on Facebook.
By adapting to the various changes and rethinking your brand’s approach to social media, you can fight the decline in organic reach and see great results from social media campaigns. Need help navigating these tricky waters? TargetMarket can help. Contact us today to learn how we can help your business fight organic decline and build a social media presence to be proud of.
