2.4 billion people are on Facebook in 2019. Is your business?
Most of us have used Facebook at some point, though whether you’re a daily user or someone who’s gradually shied away from social media over time, it’s impossible to deny the impact Facebook has made on both our personal and professional lives.
With over 2.4 billion users in 2019, Facebook is still (by far) the biggest and most popular social media network in the world. It’s huge everywhere, and there are over 15 million monthly users in Australia alone.
What this means for small business owners — whether you’re an established business or a start-up — is that you have the opportunity to connect with so many more people interested in your products and services than ever before.
But how do you go about connecting with these people? Do you search for them in interest groups, by name or by friending your followers’ friends? The most effective and practical method is to expand your ‘Facebook reach’.
So, what is ‘Facebook reach’ and how can you reach out to your target audience on the world’s #1 social media platform?
Facebook reach refers to the number of individual people who’ve seen your content in the form of, for example, a post on your business page or a paid ad. Your followers and other Facebook users can then engage with your content by commenting or liking your posts, or clicking a Call to Action (CTA) like ‘Shop Now’ on your Facebook Ad.
But there’s so much more to Facebook success as a business than reaching as many people as possible — you need to reach the right people. After all, what’s the point of showing your content to people who aren’t interested in the products that your small business has to offer?
Therefore, to succeed on Facebook as a business, you have to reach the right people with your content. That means people in your target demographic who want your products and services.
At Fifth Avenue Lifestyle, we’ve seen small businesses both succeed and fail with their Facebook marketing campaigns. This experience has helped us understand the strategies required to reach as many people in our target audience as possible.
Here are 5 practical tips to help you enhance your Facebook reach.
1. Interact with others
Interact with your followers as much (and as meaningfully) as possible. And if people comment on your post, always be sure to reply to their comments. This not only makes it more likely that your post will stand out on your followers’ news feed — it also shows you care and adds a more personal, human touch to your business.
Also, ask your followers what they want from your business, and not only on social media, but also in terms of customer service and delivery. That way they feel valued and you get a better perspective of your target audience.
You can also interact meaningfully by sharing others’ content. A great way to do this is to team up with other businesses in your local community or network to help spread their Facebook reach and benefit from a mutually beneficial relationship.
2. Create real and relatable content
There’s so much more to succeeding on Facebook and social media than marketing and selling your products and services. When people interact with your Facebook business page, they generally want more than a list of features and benefits. As research shows, most social media users want a story they can relate to or information that provides value by, for example, solving a problem.
Your content should always be real and relatable — don’t forget the aim isn’t only to reach potential clients and customers, but also connect and engage with them in a meaningful way.
What this means is that your posts should encourage users to comment and share, like using polls, which are an excellent way to encourage engagement because they give people the opportunity to share their opinion.
Don’t forget that you have many tools at your disposal to encourage engagement, including eye-catching images and posts packed with helpful information.
3. Substance over abundance
Churning out as many posts as possible every day is a tactic that rarely succeeds, especially if your posts can be described as being of the average garden variety.
When you place abundance over substance, your followers will stop paying attention to your posts and they may even stop following you altogether. That’s why it’s so important to put maximum effort into each post and make your followers just as excited to interact with it as you are to share it.
There are a number of strategies that you could try, like going quiet for a couple of days and then returning to Facebook with an amazing promotional offer. Even if some of your followers were put off by your constant presence on their feed, they’re unlikely to say ‘no’ to a discount opportunity!
4. Use Video
Videos on social media get high engagement rates, which means they’re more likely to be shared and commented on. One of the best video features to leverage is Facebook’s ‘native video’ feature — native videos are created and uploaded directly on Facebook — which is now one of the strongest components in the news feed.
5. Know When to Post
To catch the attention of your target audience, timing is crucially important. It may come as a surprise, but peak times aren’t necessarily the best time to schedule your posts.
While peak times seem the best time to post, as everyone else is also posting, your posts risk getting get lost in the clutter. Take note of when your target audience is online and schedule your posts accordingly. What’s more, if you can post when your rivals are offline that’ll also work in your business’s favour.
If you’re looking to boost your Facebook business page and get more customers by increasing your reach, these tips are a great way to get started.