Facebook organic reach is not dead, but you will need to work harder to get eyes on your pages. Here’s a rundown of what experts are saying will help you reach your audience. Facebook is still the top social media platform that marketers use and where consumers tend to look for and follow brand pages. So don’t despair!
Those running Facebook business pages have been seeing ever diminishing returns on their effort at getting their content in front of their audiences and fans, especially since around 2016. Yet Facebook remains the #1 platform for building an audience. Once upon a time, Facebook was incredibly fertile soil to grow our entrepreneurial and creative gardens in, at little to no cost to us. Many businesses are seeing a drastic reduction in reach, meaning that a tiny percentage of people are seeing our posts, even among those who follow our pages.
Have you ever heard something like, “The first one’s always free; that’s how they get you”? This has long been a business philosophy to hook prospective customers, used by savvy marketers and drug dealers alike. Facebook went and took that to the next level, introducing an easy-to-use platform where almost anyone could find and engage with their target audiences of customers, fans, members, and more.
Of course, there had to be a reckoning, and now that Facebook has more than 2.6 billion active monthly users worldwide, they continue to change the rules. Consider the amount of users and the amount of posts being made, and it makes more sense that Facebook tries to narrow the audience for any single post to a reasonable chunk. Otherwise, our brains would explode (okay, my words, not an actual medical opinion). Really, you don’t need to reach everybody, because not everybody is interested in what you’re offering. You need to reach the right people who are going to engage and build a smaller, engaged loyal group of diehard customers.
Community is key
Here are some of the latest tips and best practices to increase organic reach in 2021, provided by Facebook pros. Mark Zuckerburg keeps bringing up the concept of community, and the algorithm favors engagement, not only on Facebook, but across platforms. Nobody wants products and services constantly jammed in their faces.
This is a conversation, not a one-way portal into your customers’ brains and wallets. A constant barrage of salesy content, urging people to buy buy buy, grows real tedious real fast. “If you build it, they will come.” Only instead of a baseball field in the middle of nowhere, work to build a community.
Ask yourself these questions:
- Are you creating conversations?
- Are you using your platform to act as a resource and provide helpful or inside information in your niche or area of expertise?
- Are you asking your audience what they want and would like to see more of from you?
- Are you taking current events and trends into account, reacting to local/national/world news at all, and creating timely posts?
- Are you using a variety of post types (photos, videos, links) and taking advantage of Facebook’s built in post tools?
- Are you taking data into account for what content people are responding to favorably and when?
- Do you ever invest in Facebook ads or boosted posts for important content or events?
Find the answer to these questions to reevaluate your strategy, work on promoting a dialogue with your audience, and ideally you will see more engagement on your pages, fruitful interactions that ultimately lead to loyal customers and bigger sales.
Create Conversations
Zuckerburg himself comes back to this point repeatedly in his regular updates on the state of all things Facebook and how the algorithm works, saying Facebook will “prioritize posts that spark conversations and meaningful interactions between people.” Not every industry lends itself to deep thoughts, but it can be simple enough to engage your audience with community questions. People love giving their opinions or talking about a shared interest.
Community questions can be fun, lively, and create fun interaction between your audience and the business. A simple This or That question posted on one of the background color templates can get the conversation started. If people don’t have to invest a lot of time to answer, then great! Depending on the industry, these can be easy one-offs: Red wine or white? Beach vacation or mountains? TikTok or Reels? Mac or PC? Harley Davidson hogs or Kawasaki crotch rockets? Early bird or night owl?
Hot takes, unpopular opinions, are another way to get people chatting. I’m not espousing trying to stir up controversy here, unless that is appropriate for your business, but people get emotional as all get out for something as simple as pineapple on pizza or beans in chili. What’s a popular or common opinion in your field? How can you introduce a hot take to get people chatting? For an entrepreneurial page, you could put out a hot take on a cluttered desk, or making lists, or standing desks.
Sure, these conversations may start out superficial, but who knows? When people begin interacting on your page more, they begin seeing more that you post, and that’s when you can introduce something a little weightier, asking them to share their expertise or advice on a relevant topic.
Become a resource
Whether your business is a science journal, digital marketing, interior designing, or a Texas Hill Country resort, your business and your audience is unique. Real estate agencies have become good at this, so we’ll use them as an example. If you are selling or leasing properties in Austin or San Francisco, sell the area. Don’t only post the properties you’re selling or agent profiles. Post those, yes, but also post industry news and local attractions.
When people are interested in moving to a new city or a new neighborhood or investing in opening a business there, they need to know why the area is attractive. What is the business climate? What are the financial perks associated with living there? What is the area known for (local restaurants, live music hiking trails, swimming holes, no traffic)? Has the area made a list for quality of life, affordability, great job prospects in X industry? Sharing blogs, articles, infographics, videos, and photos highlighting any of these can help your page serve the interests of your target audience. This is a good thing.
Ask your audience
This is a simple tip for keeping things closer to your audience’s interests, helping you identify areas where your page may be lacking–and opportunities for growth, and keeping the conversation going. Be careful not to overuse this one, but it’s an important tool.
- Try a simple question, such as “What would you like to see more of on this page?”
- Create a poll, which is much faster to answer, and helps you narrow answers down to what you really want to know.
- Similar to the community questions, ask them to share something that has helped them. A classic example would be “What is the best entrepreneurial advice anyone has even given you?” Or “Please share some tips to fight procrastination.” Or “What is the top time-saving tool you use in your business (or for scheduling)?” Having your page followers (and hopefully others) chat with each other this way is helpful for them and for your organic reach.
Take current events and trends into account
This one’s simple: Read the room. This goes both ways. If there is renewed interest in, say, downtown lofts or sea shanty dances on TikTok, can you use this momentary heat to bring interest to your page? On the other hand, if there is a natural disaster, tragedy, or financial crash that has caused great suffering in an area? That’s a good moment to review your scheduled posts and delete or postpone anything that could be unintentionally triggering or offensive.
Some types of businesses are better suited to jumping on the latest trend. Do you have a bar or restaurant with a fairly young, social media savvy crowd? Go ahead, Photoshop that Bernie-Sanders-in-mittens image sitting on your patio (only if you can do it as the trend is hitting). Are you targeting an area that has recently been hit by extended power outages? I’m sorry to tell you, but this is not the time to promote that popup restaurant where diners experience eating in the dark.
Mix it up and use native Facebook tools
Of course you want to stay on brand, but please don’t get caught in a rut where all of your posts are one type. Consistency is one thing, but beware that this doesn’t turn into monotony. Assess where you can change things up. Add photos, videos, links to relevant blogs and articles, or community questions. Different people respond differently to different types of input. Use all the tools at your disposal to generate interest, draw people in, and get them reacting to and engaging with your page.
Facebook and all social media platforms have built in tools. They want you to use them. Often, this is a Facebook effort to capitalize on a similar, competing app. Trust me when I say, you will get brownie points (higher reach) when you take the time to use these native tools. Facebook Watch, Facebook Live, Facebook Stories, even using a background color template from the Facebook options, are all ways to show Facebook you’re paying attention and want to optimize the tools they are giving you.
Use provided data
You need to be able to look for patterns, evaluate the factors that made a particular post popular, and know when your customers and followers are likely to see your page and interact with it. Facebook provides a number of insights in the platform, but there are numerous external marketing tools you can purchase or sometimes use for free (depending on how many pages and platforms you are running, and how in-depth you want your data to be).
Posting willy nilly is not the most effective way to be. Decide what data is useful to you and make time to study it, and be willing to make changes to your content strategy based on the data. Like many other aspects of marketing, expanding your organic reach is a mixture of art and science, a balancing act of intuition and cold, hard numbers. Use them.
Consider paying to play
I know, I know, this story is about organic and not paid reach, but the fact is strategically paying for a Facebook ad or boosting a post to highlight a launch, event, special deal, or other important news will bring more people to your page. If the other tips, tools, and best practices referred to here are in place, once they find your page, you have the ability to keep their attention through organic means.
Keep on truckin’
These tips should help you expand your page’s organic reach. More importantly, they should help you build and support a community, earn loyal followers and customers, and generate positive buzz about your business. Keep working on becoming a resource and sharing helpful information. Have fun with it and experiment with new media and types of posts. Know yourself. Know your audience.
Mack
September 12, 2008 at 10:19 am
WOW Mark. What a load of information in a first post. As you stated in # 5, our clients could care less if we have an ABR, CRS, SRES, GRI, CRP, or any other designation. What they really want to know is if you can solve their problem, get their home sold or help them find the the home of their dreams. I also liked # 11. For those that do not want to invest in their business they are welcome to all the discount prospects.
Maybe you just virtually slapped some people in the back of the head!
Bob
September 12, 2008 at 10:34 am
Along the same lines – “Be attached to the outcome, not the method”
Marketing, no matter how creative, doesn’t work the same way across the board.
St George Rentals
September 12, 2008 at 2:26 pm
This is a good list that I am going to continue to come back and look at. I am a big proponent for marketing. You could wish to give away money but if no one knows then what are you going to do?
Excellent information.
ines
September 12, 2008 at 2:43 pm
What awesome insight into the marketing world, especially for those of us that are learning as we go. I have to tell you that ever since I got into real estate and started “marketing” ourselves I realized that maybe I should have studied marketing instead of architecture because I like it that much. It’s amazing what I’ve learned from “failing” and you are right…..failing as quick as possible would make the process so much easier.
What I really like about blogging and marketing is the fact that I can put myself out there for our audience – no facades, our straight-forward personality to attract like-minded clients – blogging is an amazing marketing tool.
Justin in Hawaii
September 12, 2008 at 5:33 pm
I think you should bold #4, Relationships are Key. As I’m learning marketing, I’m finding that relationships are everything!
Mark Eckenrode | HomeStomper
September 12, 2008 at 6:03 pm
glad y’all are digging it.
@justin: yeah, #4 is pretty darn important. think about if all your competitors stole your best marketing ideas, targeted the same areas, even broke into your office and stole your client list… the one thing that they can never steal is your personality and the relationships built around it.
Brad Nix
September 12, 2008 at 6:13 pm
My favorite part about Mark’s ability to deliver good advice on marketing is that he continues to add value in the secondary comments/follow-up conversations…see Comment #6 for what I’m talking about. His comment to add to the conversation is as good as the post itself!
Matthew Rathbun
September 12, 2008 at 8:22 pm
Mark,
This is a great summary of the foundation for marketing. I am not sure I agree with all the commenters interpretations, but I know that getting the consumer to know that I am better prepared than the average agent is a combination of things. Reading an agents blog, seeing proof that the agent has greater industry education than that a pre-license course, showing our ability to be professional in the quality of the marketing are all good…. using whatever technique we can to show that we care is even more important.
I am especially fond of #12. I am SO tired of getting spam mail with “coaches” that promise if I spend $300 and two days with their course; I’ll be rich forever.
Jay Thompson
September 13, 2008 at 10:01 am
Well there is a post jam-packed with golden nuggets… nicely done!
The purpose of marketing is not to make a sale
I think a lot of folks get lost in this one. Too many feel like they’ve failed if they don’t close a sale with every marketing effort. Often it’s a multi-step process with the actual sale many steps down the road.
Folks want to connect with people and they’re attracted to personalities
Bingo. That’s why it is *so* important to display that personality in blogging (and elsewhere). People can be repulsed by personality too — and that is OK! I’d rather have someone read my blog and think, “That guy will never be my agent” than to find that out after working to together for weeks. No agent is the right agent for everyone.
Daniel Bates
September 13, 2008 at 6:56 pm
Awesome article! I think my best marketing advice is to have a long range view. Always keeping your eye on the immediate future gives you choppy results at best. Plan for the long haul and you’ll be more satisfied with the successes and less disappointed with the failures. I have a thousand “great ideas” every day. I don’t go acting on every one though. I plan them out and roll them around in my head and on paper and when I’ve developed it enough I act.
Steve Simon
September 14, 2008 at 6:24 am
Your number 1 is not always true. Accurate records and trackbacks to different marketing efforts, and a thoughtful fiscal ROI analysis are ket components of a good overall marketing strategy.
You yourself, Mark, forcefully wrote in this website about different landing pages and approaches that change depending upon initial selections of a visitor, the record keeping associated with that and the creation of multiple doorways to get optimal result certainly would be considered “Rocket Science”
Your number 4 is questionable…
Number 7 is just wrong; many marketing studies have shown the third time a mailer or marketing effort was initiated was when it proved to be worthy… buyer resistance and other factors come into play.
Nine and Twelve are almost diametrically opposed.
To me your list sounds like someone put it together much too quickly.
The purchase of a house or property is not an action that works like selling an eBook to web surfer.
Using phrases like “Call to action” tells me someone has taken too many “Magic Bean” seminars themselves.
Just my thoughts 🙂
Mark Eckenrode | HomeStomper
September 15, 2008 at 10:04 am
@jay: good point. personality disqualifies prospects as much as it qualifies them. it’s when folks try to walk the middle road and “play it safe” that they never really attract the “right” people for them… and i’m sure more than a few of us know how frustrating that can be.
@daniel: yeah, that’s a great addition to the list, “long range thinking.” heck, it’s the first step in 7 Habits of Highly Effective People… so, is your marketing in line with your long term goals? thanks for that addition.
@steve: interesting. well, it’s defintiely obvious you don’t like me or what i have to say however you still seem attracted to my personality 🙂 i’m sure i’ll receive more of your criticisms in the future, i just hope they end up being constructive.
Chris Butterworth
September 18, 2008 at 4:50 pm
Good list, Mark.
#4 is tops in real estate marketing – people buy from people. period. the end. You may have billboards all over town, and use every web2.0 gadget available, but if some schlub agent with no marketing budget and no technology knocks on the prospect’s door, he’s got a better chance of getting their business than you do. (provided he doesn’t drool on himself & turn the prospect off!)
I would add Consistency as a corollary to #s 12 and 7. Marketing is unlike running an ad – rather than getting a quick hit, it takes time to develop a brand/message. Switching from one plan to the next to the next too quickly is like chasing rainbows looking for the pot of gold.
Mark Eckenrode
September 18, 2008 at 5:05 pm
@chris: yup, consistency is a factor in everything.
did you know that Marlboro used to be a woman’s cigarette? that’s who they marketed too but they were about #20 or so in the industry as far as sales went. they revamped and came up with the whole rugged cowboy bit (talk about a 180) but it took them years before they even began to climb the sales charts from #20.
Paula Henry
October 1, 2008 at 8:19 am
Silly me – I don’t know where I was in September, but wanted to stop and say welcome to AG! This type of info is what makes your blog one of my favorites!