Facebook is a mystery. It’s an enigma wrapped in a riddle housed in a coconut – you just can’t get through no matter how hard you try. Or can you?
It’s no secret that Facebook business pages have a declining organic reach. Just about everyone who has a business page (or reads blogs about blogging) knows that. I have found a few ways around this, though. Spurred on by this post from Think Creative, I want to offer a few more pieces of well-honed advice.
What caught my eye were their two points to “Post less, communicate more” and “Be a resource, not a sales pitch.” I say this to clients all day long at my day job.
I tell them, “You want to be inspiring, entertaining, and engaging. Make yourself a resource for your customers and position yourself as an expert. Why? Because the more someone interacts with your posts (likes, clicks, comments, and shares), the more likely Facebook will serve them up in their feed in the future. But in order to get customers interacting with your Facebook business page, we need to give them something meaty.
So how do you do that? Well, if I were to go on your page, is it 100% without question painfully obvious what you do? If it is, great, carry on. If it isn’t, let’s get you there.
First, pick a schedule. I’ve preached about this before. It is so important to have an updated page. If I were to go to someone’s business page and see that the last post was from two months ago, I wouldn’t have a reason to click that all-powerful Like button.
Second, make sure your content is related to your business type. Are you a DIY jewelry making store? Let’s talk about jewelry, share tutorials, even post some style inspiration. Are you a blogger who writes about pie baking? You’ll want to share recipes, but also tips for making the flakiest crust and your insider secret for ensuring your blueberry pie doesn’t bubble over (I use a mixture of tapioca pearls and corn starch..you’re welcome.)
I love to take advantage of secret Pinterest boards. Whenever I find something that I think would be useful to share on my clients’ pages, I save it to a secret Pinterest board. Then when I’m ready to sit down and schedule out posts, I have a file of relevant content to pull from.
Third, be a real person. No one wants to follow an automaton. You want hearts, not eyeballs, so you have to give people something to connect with. Of course, you can highlight your Pinterest-worthy fall wreath when it’s all done, but take your customers behind the scenes and let them see your mess once in a while. It’ll humanize you a little bit and give customers a face, not just a business name, to put with the content.
So what did we learn today, kids? To succeed on Facebook, you need to post consistently, position yourself as an expert, and make sure you’re bringing some heart to your brand.
