Facebook has been in a bit of hot water lately. First, people discovered that they weren’t even seeing the news that friends and family were posting, because their news feeds had been inundated with advertising and business pages. Next, the Cambridge Analytica data scandal had users reeling when they realized that their personal information was being used and abused without their permission. Facebook is back-pedaling fast, reaching back to their humble roots and centering their attention on helping people connect with one another.

What does this mean for businesses? Essentially, your page is no longer considered to be of high importance. A like from your target audience is not enough to get you on their news feed, because pictures of babies and weddings are taking priority. It’s a tough reality for social media marketers, but with a closer look at your strategy, you can figure out why your posts are not being seen and determine what you can do to correct the problem.

The new algorithm is not in your favor.

Facebook takes into consideration how a user interacts with the platform. Every like, share, and comment is recorded and drives what a user sees in the future on their news feed. The more often a user engages with another person or a page, the more frequently similar posts will appear in the news feed. Of course, it’s not often that we are complimenting a business page on their new outfit or how cute their kids’ back-to-school photos are. Businesses must push hard for the same type of organic reach, and Facebook isn’t making it easy.

You’re probably posting too frequently.

You can’t just flood the news feed with random posts throughout the day. Facebook is smarter than that, and all that you will have done is overwhelm your own page with random nonsense. You will not reach viewers, and your content will likely be of poor quality. What Facebook will pick up on is content of substance. Quality always reigns, and if you are only making one post a day, it needs to be relevant.

You’re not engaging with your audience.

Not only does your content need to be relevant to your target audience, but it must be engaging. This is another reason why videos are so popular, because they are much more compelling than an article or a blog post. Videos appear directly in the news feed and are more enticing to the brain. As far as content goes, you can’t lose with good video.

Engagement also needs to be authentic. Encourage your followers to like, share, and comment. The more hits your post gets, the more visibility your business will achieve. If Facebook users are tagging their friends in your posts, even better. You’ll notice a significant increase in your presence in the news feed.

Organic reach will eventually hit zero.

Although organic reach is ideal, Facebook is heading in the direction of paid advertising for those that want to be successful. Soon, organic engagement will be reserved for family and friends only, leaving you with content that needs to be amplified to reach a specific audience. This presents yet another reason why your content had better be good, because eventually, you’ll have to pay to make it visible.

Facebook can still a lucrative platform for business pages, but it does require investment of time and financial resources. You must go beyond the basics and make strategic decisions to get the most out of your marketing campaigns. This starts with understanding your audience, an awareness of what’s trending, and a sense of which updates perform better than others. If you’re not sure where to begin, you can contact us here, and we can help you create visible Facebook posts that won’t get lost in the algorithm.