You may have heard that Facebook is changing its algorithm. Again. And to be honest they will probably do it again. But, I’m happy about it. Want to know why?
Because the algorithm ensures that the best possible content is seen in people’s newsfeeds. More than 30 billion pieces of content are created on Facebook each month – can you imagine if all the content shared in your network was shown on your newsfeed?
You’d never see what your family, crush, or traveling friends (or that popular kid you’re stalking from high school) are up to. Facebook is created for the end-user, not for you and your business. Remember that.
So what can you do?
Tip 1: You have to focus entirely on sharing SHAREABLE content.
Everyone gets caught up in how many times you should be posting a day/week/hour instead of focusing on the most important part. Is this good content?
How can you tell if it’s good content? Let me phrase it this way, if it appeared on your newsfeed, would YOU share it, or click through? No? Then it’s not good enough.
Focus on creating shareable content, and if you can do that once a week – perfect! If you’ve got a team and can do it daily, even better.
Tip 2: Always focus on building your list
Yes, this is a post about Facebook – but you know what? I’ve heard of 3 businesses just in the last week that had their pages taken down by Facebook. THREE!
Two of them managed to get them back, but that still brings up the very important fact.
You don’t own your likes or engagement on Facebook.
Now, this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t use Facebook at all because it’s an absolutely brilliant medium – but you’ve got to focus on what’s yours. Your email list.
Make sure that building your email list is a key component of your strategy. Include opt-in forms on your website, and halfway through blog posts. Use Facebook Ads to drive leads and share even more value to potential customers.
The point is, never, EVER let Facebook be your sole form of marketing – you could lose everything, and then where would that leave you?
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Bonus Tip:
You want more engagement on Facebook, you want to reach more people, and you want to provide more value. Right?
Facebook has given us a neat way to share more content, and it comes on a fairly even playing field, and without the hindrances of the algorithm. And that is through Facebook Live. I’ve written an in-depth article on how to use it, check it out here.
But here’s what you need to know:
- Every single one of your “likes”’ will get a notification when you go live.
- You HAVE to record it on your phone, so you can’t be a perfectionist and say, but I don’t have the proper lighting, camera, editing software, backdrop. Or maybe that’s just me…
- People are scared of doing live video, so if you can muster up 5 mins of courage, you’ll be miles ahead of your competition.
- All you need is your phone and a bulldog clip (check out the how-to use Facebook Live article here to see what I mean)
- Video is one of the best ways to share valuable and SHAREABLE content
- Just know that none of this is clear-cut, the rules are always changing, and you just need to do your best.
Keep trying things, keep learning and stop comparing yourself to everyone else. Get inspiration and see what’s working for others, but stop comparing yourself!
