Facebook marketing is becoming more challenging for businesses as it moves towards an almost inevitable pay-to-play space. But the term is not yet synonymous with paid advertising, and reaching your customers is still possible without forking over your hard-earned dollars.
What is Facebook reach?
Facebook reach is the number of unique Facebook accounts that see the content you post (as opposed to impressions, which is the number of views and may include the same account more than once). It includes followers and non-followers, and you can view by post or page.
To see the reach on a specific post, click ‘See insights and ads’ just above the reactions at the bottom of your post. To see your page reach, click page insights at the bottom of any post insights.
* Note: Personal accounts do not show reach. Some insights are not available until you reach 100 impressions and Facebook may estimate your reach. See Facebook for more information.
Facebook marketing – the importance of reach
Whilst engagement remains king, increasing your reach will help you increase engagement and vice versa. As reach metrics on Facebook include followers and non-followers, good reach helps to build brand awareness, trust, sales, and even loyalty.
Unfortunately, the percentage of followers who see page posts continues to dwindle, but we marketers still have a few tricks to increase your organic Facebook reach.
Tips for increasing Facebook business page reach
Optimise posts specifically for Facebook
We know how tempting it is to cross-post everything, but social media platforms prioritise posts that respect their unique algorithms. That means putting in a little extra effort and editing to suit the platform.
The gold standard optimisation for Facebook is to post directly through either Facebook or Meta Business Suite. Your post should include a great visual with insightful and optimised words. Hashtags and tags for other businesses or individuals also extend your reach.
Limit external links (unless you are paying for advertising)
Facebook is a business, just like we are. It wants to keep people on the platform, so it shows posts with external links just a little less than others. If you need to use them, use them strategically.
Encourage engagement – naturally
Engagement helps extend your organic reach. When followers like, comment on, or share your post, it tells Facebook it’s good content. The algorithm then shows it to people in your followers’ extended network as well.
Try these for a natural engagement boost:
- Videos and lives
- User-generated content campaigns and contests
- Inspiring emotional reactions (Harvard Business Review has an interesting though older piece about which emotions inspire action here)
- Posting at the right time of day for your audience (some scheduling tools can help with data that tells you when your followers are most active – aka. Most likely to engage)
- Be consistent and present – engage back when followers comment or tag your business.
Avoid looking desperate or like clickbait with the ‘tag a friend that NEEDS to see this’ style of encouragement. The algorithm is smart enough to see this for what it is.
Review and replicate
As always, never leave your strategy to stagnate. Review the posts that have worked best in the past and replicate something similar to increase your reach.
Just remember that posts with low (or lower) engagement can still be essential to your overall marketing strategy. Testimonials, for example, may not be fun or have high engagement, but they may tip a long-time stalker into making a purchase!
Collaborations and finding new audiences
Even the simplest collaborations help you reach a whole new audience through cross-posting or sharing. Try:
- Supporting yourself by sharing occasional business posts to your personal page
- Teaming up with a business whose audience aligns with yours to create and share something with both audiences.
- Contributing to groups full of your ideal audience by answering questions, promoting on permitted days, and building rapport as you might in person.
Do I need to get verified on Facebook to increase my reach?
The paid Meta Verified subscription provides a range of features to creators and businesses that may help increase your reach, though it is not yet required or even available to all accounts.
We think we can reach our customers without it, though we’re hearing good things about it for support and protection against account impersonation. It’s another case of ‘watch this space’.
If you want some help to increase your reach on Facebook, research the best hashtags for your business, or create a complete social media strategy, book your free intro chat with our head Social Media Strategist, Susie Basiaco.
