Facebook has a unique algorithm in place to determine which posts are displayed in your friends’ and followers’ News Feeds at any given time. This algorithm is called Edgerank and it’s based on a configuration of scores for the following characteristics of your posts: Affinity, Weight, and Time Decay. Your goal with each post should be to achieve a high reach by providing followers with content that is applicable to them, from a reputable source, and relevant to them at the time of the post. There is a lot of information on the internet about Edgerank and you could spend days reading up on the best ways to get your Facebook content in followers’ News Feeds, but we decided to sum up what we believe are the four most important things you should be doing with your Facebook business page to get those posts to reach more than just 12% of your Facebook fans.
Pay Attention to When You’re Posting
The best times to post new content to your business page is between 8:00 am and 9:00 pm, specifically at 9:00 am, or right after people arrive at work, around lunch-time, and in the evenings between 5:00 pm and bed-time, when people are getting off work, eating dinner, and getting ready for bed.
Also, it’s been proven that Facebook gives more credit to posts that come from companies who are using their service more frequently. You can trust that your posts will get more shares and likes when you’re continually sharing and posting interesting content from your business page, as opposed to leaving your social platform to decay when you have a busy month or quarter.
Target Your Posts to a Specific Audience
You can cater your shared content to specific categories of Facebook users. These categories include targeting by age, location, gender, and interests. By isolating these segments and researching the insights provided by Facebook on your business page, you can discover how to magnify your post’s reach to its full potential.
Upload Your Videos to Facebook
If Facebook had an ego, feeding it would allow you to gain more access to your followers’ News Feeds. Facebook treats videos and other visual content as more important information, therefore that kind of content is given more weight when it comes to Facebook’s Edgerank algorithm. By uploading videos directly to Facebook instead of sharing a video from a different site like YouTube, you’re telling Facebook that you trust it to give your video more exposure than another video site, and with a compliment like that, Facebook will be happy to comply.
Utilize Trending Topics
Facebook’s Trending Topics give you a real opportunity to reach new followers. These news topics are updated often and include information from Facebook users in addition to news sources. We love how Jeff Goins took the opportunity to promote his new book by mentioning The Walking Dead in his post:
This is a great example of how a business page can utilize those Trending Topics to your advantage. Jeff writes a post that, while promotional, still feels personal and natural, but not spammy.
We believe that by implementing these recommendations into your Facebook strategy, you’ll see an increase in your post reach. What other practices can you do to expand your followers?
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