NCET Biz Tips: Organic Social Growth Hacking
NCET helps you explore business and technology
By Wesley McQuillen
Wesley McQuillen
A long time ago, you could reach almost all the folks who “Like” your business on Facebook by posting a status update. Now only about 2% of them will see it, unless you want to pull out your credit card and hit that “Boost” button. But is there a way to still reach them for free?
If you don’t have the luxury of spending thousands a month, use these tips to reach more people for free:
Use the available features
Facebook includes features like a photo/video attachment, “Check In” to a location, a “Feeling/Activity,” sharing to groups, and tagging other pages to create a robust user experience. Content that utilizes these features is given more preference by Facebook’s algorithm – they don’t create these things for no reason, they want you to use them!
Get engagement early
Within the first few minutes that content is posted, Facebook’s algorithm is calculating how many Likes, Comments, and Shares appear per minute. If there are a lot, that’s an indicator that it must be interesting, so instead of just 2% of your fans, it may increase to 5% or 10%. Have a few folks who are ready to engage as soon as you publish a post. This expands your reach into their networks as well.
Use Video
Different types of content receive different rates of exposure. Video is receiving high exposure right now because it keeps users on the platform for longer. Think of ways that you can take something that would have been a text post or an image and convert it to video. If you don’t have a video editor, use a web-based service like Canva to animate your content.
Use Emojis
Facebook content that uses emojis gets 20–30% higher engagement rates with no other differences when compared in A/B testing. Higher engagement means higher reach, so this is the easiest way to be seen by more people quickly.
Be persistent and consistent
Whatever posting schedule you pick, whatever type of content you decide to use, make sure that you are persistent (don’t give up even if you aren’t seeing big results) and consistent (there’s a reliable pattern to what you’re doing).
Organic growth on social media is like growing a fruit tree in your yard – it takes consistent attention, care, monitoring in case adjustments are needed, and it’s a while before you start picking fruit and making pies. But once you get there, it starts to snowball and you reach more people than many types of paid advertising.
Learn about Organic Social Growth Hacking at NCET’s BizCafeon December 18. NCET is a member-supported nonprofit organization that produces educational and networking events to help people explorebusiness and technology. More info at www.NCETcafe.org
Wesley McQuillen is Principal at ALTER Strategies (www.alterstrategies.co) and creates marketing strategies that help age-restricted and highly-regulated businesses to increase sales and stand out in a crowded field while navigating complex regulations.