Have you noticed lately that the organic reach of your posts has declined drastically over the last few months? Social media seem to have changed their algorithm again to limit the number of people you can reach without paying them. We spoke to a few digital marketing professionals about the matter. According to the experts of a digital marketing agency, a similar decline was noticed in 2018 when Mark Zuckerberg announced that people would see less commercial content. It seems every social media page followed suit. We are not sure if the number of advertisements we see has reduced, but there has been a steady decline in the organic reach of posts on a business page. We asked digital marketing professionals to suggest ways to handle the situation. Here is what we learned.
Create Unique Content for Each Social Media Platform
Most businesses tend to repeat the same post on all platforms. Since Facebook and Instagram have the option to link posts on both platforms, most organizations turn on the share button to repost a photograph or any other content. But you must understand that all social media platforms have their own set of algorithms for search optimization. That is why it is necessary to create individual posts that can get optimized for each platform. For example, you can create a post on Facebook, showcase the backstage scenes on Instagram, and fuel a discussion about it on Twitter. The frequency of the content should vary too. While Facebook and Instagram posts can be done every day, Twitter discussions or chats can be held once in a week or month.
Share Other Contents Too
Sharing is an integral part of social media. So do not flood your social media pages with your content all the time. Sharing posts by others can go a long way in keeping people engaged with your brand. Some of the types of content that you can share on your page are:
- You can repost content shared by your customers, adding a note of thanks to them. That will promote your brand value, goodwill, and customer retention.
- You can create a post about brands that you collaborate with regularly. For example, you can post about the brand of a product that you use at your business.
- You can share posts by brands that sell similar products but are not your direct competitors. For example, you can share a picture of your friend’s business.
- You can share content from another business page that uses your products. For example, you can promote a restaurant that uses your canned tomatoes to make their pizza sauce.
Sharing such content can also save you time and effort required to create your content. It improves your public relations and helps in creating a positive social image for your brand.
Understand the Algorithms
As we mentioned before, social media platforms use their algorithms to control the posts and their visibility. It will also pay in the long run to hire a digital marketing agency to understand how the algorithms of each platform work. Some details of the inside information that we got are:
- Facebook will give preference to posts from personal accounts rather than business pages. So get your friends and family to share a few posts on your behalf.
- Instagram will show your posts to people that interact with you. So ensure that you comment and interact with your existing customers to make sure they see your posts. Personal accounts have better reach on Instagram too.
- Twitter will also feature your tweets to people that you interact with regularly. So make sure you take part in discussions with your existing and potential customers.
Collaborate With an Influencer
Working with influencers can be the easiest way to increase your organic reach on social media. But there are a few factors you must keep in mind before you collaborate with a social media influencer.
- Collaborate with those that share your values as a brand. That will ensure that their followers will relate to your brand and its products or services.
- Ignore the influencers that share only sponsored content on their page. That shows that they are not passionate about what they do. A large part of an influencer’s job is to participate actively in what they feature.
- If you have chosen an influencer based on their posts, give them the freedom to work the way they want. Trust them to know how it works. That is their job.
- Don’t let the number of followers dictate your choice. Influencers can also increase the number of followers inorganically.
The most important aspect of social media marketing is to accept that no strategy is permanent. Algorithms keep changing, and so should your approach to social media marketing. That is why you should find a balance between doing things yourself and hiring professionals.