I'm hearing a lot of complaints that Facebook Reach is dead.
People whining that Facebook is no longer good for business pages -- because nobody sees your posts thanks to new restrictions on the news feed algorithm.
I call BS!
To prove my point, I started a Facebook business page the evening of Dec. 29 while watching my Dallas Cowboys blow another chance at the playoffs.
It's a page about one of my favorite subjects -- Bigfoot.
Within 4 days, the page (called Fans of Bigfoot) had grown to more than 2,400 fans & Reach had gone through the roof.
This leads me to conclude that if your Facebook Reach is down, it isn't because Facebook is penalizing you.
Your Reach is down because your Facebook marketing strategy sucks.
Facebook Reach isn't Dead! Your Facebook Marketing Strategy Just Sucks!
Here's a screenshot of the stats from the first 4-5 days of my Bigfoot page's existence:
Translation: the page had about 2,400 Likes with a Reach of 74,000!
And as you see, Likes, comments & shares are very high compared to the number of fans.
Taking a look at the Post Reach, you can see that each post has seen considerable exposure:
The first update on the list was posted about 2 hours before I took this screenshot.
It already had a Facebook Reach nearly equal to the number of page Likes!
After 24 hours that number exceeded the page Like count.
Why is the Reach so High on this Page?
Here are some reasons this page has done so well so quickly:
1. I Got Targeted Likes
I ran a $10 per day Page Like Facebook ad targeting people who were interested in:
- Bigfoot
- the show "Finding Bigfoot"
Out of 2,400 Likes, about 1,600 came from these ads.
I've spent about $40 -- which means I'm getting targeted Likes for about 2 cents each. Boom!
And my fans are interested in what I'm posting because I hyper-targeted the page.
2. I Post Often
Forget the so called "rules" that say you should only post 2-3 times per day.
Post as often as you can -- as long as you're increasing engagement.
My goal is to post every 3-4 hours with something informative or comical (and yes, at some point I will post links to buy merchandise).
You may recall my previous post about a page called Whitetail Overload growing to more than 620K Likes without ads:
These guys post a ton -- throwing aside all the rules from the social media "gurus".
3. I Post Great Content
I post things that people want to share to their profile. And I think smart page managers in every niche do this.
Don't just post about your specials or your business. Mix it up!
The post below went viral after it was published on several news sites. So I got the jump on many major Bigfoot pages:
Wise page managers stay on top of news in their niche -- while also keeping their fans informed. The last thing you want to do is post something that 20 other pages have already covered.
I know the next argument I'm going to hear:
But this is only because you created a page about Bigfoot. The Reach of a "real" business page is going to be less!
And I understand & welcome these remarks.
But let's take a look at the Facebook Reach stats for our Post Planner business page:
I won't count the first post because it was published about 15 minutes after I did this screenshot.
Sure, the rest of the Facebook Reach stats aren't as high as I got on my new Bigfoot page, but they're still better than what many are complaining about.
For example, the 3rd post from the top got a Reach of 6.5K in about 12 hours. That's reaching about 14% of Post Planner's fans.
Far higher than the 2-3% Facebook Reach being reported by some critics.
And this Reach is organic -- not paid.
If we had boosted a post or done Sponsored Stories, imagine how high our Reach might have been!
Here's another real-world example from the page for my bounce house business. This business page has about 350 Likes, mostly local.
The first post was only about 3 hours old when this article was written -- but still had already reached 17% of my fans!
The post on Dec. 30 had a Reach of about 40% -- again that's organic Reach, not paid.
Now notice the post on Dec. 27 with Reach of 1.3K -- that is a Boosted Post.
I only spent $5 to boost this post, which had a Reach 4X my current Like count -- resulting in about 15 new fans.
I can't directly correlate this ad to a specific sale, yet -- but if just 1 of these new fans rents a bounce house, then that's at least $100 in revenue from a $5 Facebook ad!
Why Am I Showing You All This?
The point I'm trying to make is that Reach isn't down as drastically as many report -- and Facebook pages aren't dead.
Sure, if you have an older page & haven't done a good job posting content or finding targeted fans, your page reach is probably suffering.
But that's not Facebook's fault.
If your Facebook content strategy is bad -- it's YOUR fault.
You may even need to start a new page to help ensure that Likes are targeted.
Or perhaps you should boost every post for a few weeks to push engagement back up.
Here's my recommendation
I've compiled these suggestions for keeping Facebook Reach & engagement high:
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Get Targeted Likes
Use targeted Facebook ads. Never ask just your friends or followers to Like your page -- only pursue targeted Likes.
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Post Often
Forget the advice from "gurus" about how often to post. If posting every 2 hours gets you great Reach & engagement, then do it! Just because some Facebook page manager says they get the best engagement posting 3 times a day -- that doesn't mean it will work for your page.
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Post Great Content
Your content should be relevant & timely for your followers. The best post types are sometimes something funny. Sure your page may not be all about laughs, but that funny post that got 100 Likes just sets up your next post -- a link post that will drive traffic to your website.
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