Posted By: Scotty Spielman
While Facebook has continually provided more products to make marketing through the social media platform easier, they have simultaneously made it even more difficult to improve the organic reach for businesses.
Due to frequent changes in its newsfeed algorithm designed to increase the quality of the content in user feeds, marketers have to constantly refine their strategies. There are some simple steps you can take, however, to avoid negatively impacting your performance through Facebook’s—and other search engine—algorithms.
Here are three types of contents that you should stop posting, if you haven’t already:
Click bait. Facebook initially started cracking down on clickbait back in 2014 and subsequent tweaks to the algorithm have been designed to reduce the spread of this type of content. Clickbait is generally defined as sensational posts, or posts that withhold simple, yet vital information in order to get users to read further.
Examples include: “This Hollywood legend escorted from Burger King—in handcuffs!” It is both sensational and withholds vital information: who is the celebrity? (It is also not a real headline, of course).
Or: “One trick to losing 40 pounds in a week—and keeping it off!” This is obviously impossible, unless the article suggests amputating a large portion of your body.
Instead provide clear, informative headlines that directly relate to your content. Don’t make outrageous claims. Give readers a good idea of what they’ll see.
Engagement bait. No, this has nothing to do with matrimony—unless you want to be married to a dwindling organic reach. Engagement bait is similar to clickbait in that it encourages users to click on your content through false pretenses.
Examples include: “’Like if you want $2 million; share if you’d tell your friends.” If your page continually asks people to like, share, respond or otherwise comment, you could see an overall drop in your reach.
Instead, avoid using words such as ‘like,’ ‘vote,’ ‘share,’ ‘comment,’ or ‘tag.’
Posts with links in the descriptions. These can be as simple as a photo with a link in the caption area. Instead, include the link separately.
These types of posts will reduce your organic reach, because Facebook and other social media platforms are always refining their algorithms to bring more relevant content to users. To stay ahead of these changes, you have to provide that relevant content.
Make sure you:
- Do your research; look at Facebook insights to determine which content gets the most engagement. Look not only at the type of content, but also when you post it.
- Use Google analytics to refine your marketing efforts
- Use your Facebook groups! The people in your groups are an invaluable source of information on what they like, don’t like and what they’ll flat out ignore.
Do you still post that type of content? What other tips do you have? Let us know in the comments!