If you have being using facebook regularly to post you most likely have noticed declining reach (number of people who see your posts) over the past few years.
The latest research suggests average reach is only 5.5%, so if a brand had 10,000 followers an average post will be seen by 550 people.
As we approach the 20th anniversary of Facebook’s founding, it’s natural to wonder are facebook posts still relevant in 2023?
How does Facebook determine reach
Facebook is looking for signs a business is posting good quality content. If an account is posting low quality content it will throttle reach. On the other hand if an account is posting good quality content it will increase the reach.
Without getting into the weeds of how Facebook’s algorithm works, all you need to know is that it will recommend and show your posts and page to more people (from both your existing audience and beyond) based on how high quality it is.
Comments And shares are 2 of the key metrics it looks at. It also considers how long people spend engaged with your post – is it a scroll stopper?
Audit your posts
We generally view posts that have over a 5% engagement rate are strong and these posts have potential to be turned into ads. In this case we would be looking for they type of posts that resonate with the audience so we can build more of them.
To view your previously published posts go to https://business.facebook.com/content_management/PUBLISHED_POSTS
Each post will have Reach and Engagement numbers.
Unfortunately the engagement rate needs to be calculated manually. Simplify divide the Reach by Engagement to get your Engagement Rate.
In the above example the post reached 4.2k people or accounts and had 463 engagements which is an engagement rate of 11%.
On the other hand this post (below) reached 5,121 accounts and only had an 150 engemenet or an engagement rate of 3%.
If we are also running ads for this account we would be looking at turning the first post into an ad (if applicable).
It’s dangerous to make descions just on one post. On the post side of thing we would look at the last 60-90 days worth of posts (depending on frequency of posts – we want enough data) to spot trends.
This would help us identify whtat type of posts get the most engagement (and want ones dont).
This would give us a plan for the next few months on the type of posts to produce. As an agency we do this exercise once a month and make adjustments.
Traffic and Posts
Some of the posts we create will we also have links back to the website. We UTM tag them so that we can track the traffic these posts generate in Google analytics (GA).
UTM tags allow an advertiser to add additional information to the link so that the traffic is visible in GA. You can generate UTM tags here:
https://ga-dev-tools.google/campaign-url-builder/
To use this just enter:
– The URL of the Landing poage
– Source e.g. Facebook post
– Medium e.g. date
This will allow you to track the results and quality of the traffic your facebook posts generate.
We would also review traffic volume and quality and take this into consideration when deciding on the future post mix.
Content Types
There is no exact science behind creating high-quality posts, but the best thing to remember is that they should always offer something to the audience that is viewing them. Facebook is in the business of capturing peoples attention – making users spend as much time as possible on the platform. This is a good filter to look at your posts through. Will this post capture someones attention?
This comes back to the idea of using your posts to build a community and the core concept of marketing as a whole: you need to offer value to your audience.
Consumers nowadays have so many channels and businesses competing for their attention that anything which doesn’t stand out will simply not succeed.
Mix Your Content Up
Have a mix of post formats including video, static, collections etc etc.Dirffernt people consume media differently so a mix of content types helps incrasee the overall reach of the account.
Post Content
Vary your posts. To offen in dealer land all we see is posting “for sale” content.
There social media strategy is very much like Mike here – just shouting Carvan for sale.
This is low quality content and will get low reach.
Mix up your content with posts. Some ideas include:
Product – authentic images of your stock.
UGC – images of real people using your product.
Humor – good for engagement to help the overall account.
Lifestyle – as above.
handovers (surprisingly work very well) etc. etc.
Quality Over Quantity
A common mistake that many businesses make with Facebook posts is believing that they need to be posting all the time. As we mentioned earlier, quality, not quantity, is a far more important factor in the success of your posts. 2 or 3 years ago we found dealers wanted 3 posts per day (a used, a new and a branded entertainment post) For most businesses, 4-7 posts a week is plenty, so long as they provide value to your audience.
Video reviews, user-generated content (UGC), and anything else that highlights what your product or service is and the benefits it offers consumers are all examples of high-quality posts that you can cycle through on a weekly basis as you discover what works. On the other hand, frequent, uninteresting posts or good posts executed poorly (e.g. high-quality product photos with no caption or context provided) will not only fail to engage your audience but can actively hurt your brand.
Don’t Forget To Engage
We have mentioned the importance of engagement several times, but one aspect we have yet to discuss is the fact that engagement is a two-way street. You can interact with your audience in posts just as they can interact with you, and doing so is one of the best ways to increase your engagement and improve how Facebook scores your content.
Again, this all comes back to the idea of using your posts to build a community. For many businesses, their posts are the most immediate point of contact for customers with questions, complaints or general remarks and serve as a great place to connect with them.
Take the time to go into your comments regularly and answer customer questions, thank them for their compliments, or respond to any complaints. Not only will this boost your engagement, but it will help you stay connected to the people that support your business and allow you to address complaints or answer questions that other customers may have.
If You’re Struggling With Social Media, We Can Help
Of course, developing a strategy, creating your posts and engaging with your audience all take time, and that is time that could be better spent growing your business. At Retain Media, our social media service is informed by data and backed by results. Highly experienced and knowledgeable in Facebook best practices and approaches, we know what works and how to implement it in a way that boosts your bottom line.
Your time is precious, so why not put it to better use? Head to our website and get in touch with the team today to discuss how our social media services can give you back the time you need to focus on growing your business.
