How to Use Facebook to Organically Market Your Blog
Getting people to read your articles can be quite the hassle. But without website traffic, your blog simply won’t grow. Sharing your blog posts on Facebook is one of the things you can do to increase traffic.
Changes to Facebook’s algorithm over the years, however, have lessened the amount of people you can reach organically (without paying). In fact, organic reach for many Facebook pages now averages about 2 – 6% of their total fan base. This means if you have 1,000 page likes, each of your Facebook posts will only reach between 20 – 60 people organically, or even less.
Concerned business owners and digital marketers have been wondering why organic reach has shrunk so dramatically in recent years, even though Facebook has grown to over 2.5 billion users. There are a two main reasons:
Content overload: With upwards of 30 billion pieces of content per month being published on the platform, Facebook’s news feed is simply not able to thoroughly cycle all the information being shared.
Focus on engagement: Facebook has become more focused on increasing engagement among users and optimizing their experience. As such, they are more likely to show content that is more in line with each user’s individual preferences.
In addition, the Facebook algorithm weighs content using over 100,000 factors to determine what shows up in someone’s news feed. The result is that there are simply not many guarantees – if any at all – that your organic reach will increase by doing anything different.
So, should you still market your blog on Facebook? The answer is yes, because the platform is still one of the best ways to connect with your target audience. In addition, there are a few things you can actually do to improve your chances of getting traction on Facebook with your blog posts.
1. Have a Facebook page
It should go without saying but you need to have created a page which will make it possible to have a following on Facebook that is interested in your content. You should already have a Facebook page set up, but if not, it is pretty easy to start one. If you are signed in, you can click on “Create” and select “Page” to begin the process. You can also go directly to facebook.com/pages/create and follow the steps to create a page.
2. Post all your blog posts
This should also be a given but is still worth mentioning. You need to create a dedicated Facebook post for every article you write and remain consistent. This will ensure your articles keep getting exposed to people who may not yet have subscribed to your blog. There is also the chance of your blog posts getting shared and acquiring engagement, which can extend your organic reach and bring new subscribers to your blog.
3. Embed your Facebook posts on your blog
With Facebook’s actions constantly minimizing the organic reach of your content, this is one tactic that has the potential to tip the scales back in your favor. You can embed any Facebook post of your choice on your blog. Readers who come across this content while on your blog can click back to Facebook and possibly engage with the post. If a reader is not yet following you on Facebook, this gives them the opportunity to like/follow your page. To embed a Facebook post, you simply click on the drop-down arrow found at the top right corner of the post, select “embed,” then copy and paste the resulting code into your blog.
4. Post at the right time
When are most of your followers online and what time of day are they most likely to engage? Your Facebook insights can tell you much about your audience, including when most of them are likely to be available to engage with your Facebook posts. However, getting this right requires some testing on your part. You won’t only be posting articles on your Facebook page, and just because users will be online at a certain time, it does not mean they all will be in the mood to read a blog post at that moment. With that said, it is a good idea to try posting your blog posts at different times, including off-peak hours, and then comparing the results.
5. Get your team to engage with the post
Facebook’s algorithm is prejudiced to posts that appear to be interesting, i.e. getting likes, reactions, shares, and comments. You can set up your blog posts for success in this area by asking people in your circle to engage with the post soon after you have shared it on Facebook. These people can include your team (people who may work for you and/or with you), family members, and friends. The more early likes and engagements received by your post, the higher the likelihood that Facebook will show it to other people.
6. Optimize your post for engagement
Writing a great blog post worthy of being read is only half the job. If you want it to gain traction organically or otherwise, you will need to put some thought into creating your Facebook post. This begins with the “catchiness” of the headline. As you probably know, Facebook disabled the feature to edit headlines and link previews for linked posts. Your blog post should already have an interesting title that people will want to click on when shown on Facebook. You will also want to put some thought into your caption to increase your chances of engagement. One of the best ways to make your post captions engaging is to ask questions. If your article headline is not suited to asking a question, you can also pick out an interesting line from the article and use it for the caption.
7. Use high-quality images
Like most other social media platforms, Facebook’s users are also big on visuals. As a result, you need to use high-quality images in your blogs, that will also be eye-catching when displayed on Facebook. In the event that your blog post images are too small to show properly on Facebook or they are not of a suitable resolution (or you don’t use images at all for your articles), you can design separate images to be used independently with your Facebook posts. This will, of course, require you to remove the link preview and place the link to your blog post inside the caption. You can use a link shortener such as bitly to create attractive links if you decide to go this route.
Conclusion
Despite shrinking organic reach, Facebook still presents a great opportunity to get your blog content in front of people who are likely to be interested. By following the above best practices, it is possible to improve organic reach and boost traffic to your blog.
Until next time!
Casey
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