Ways to Increase Organic Reach on Facebook Part 1

The term “reach” is the most important aspect for Facebook marketing. And for good reason, because in the end we all want our posts to be seen by as many viewers as possible.

But when it is competing with the competitor’s content, Facebook ads and even updates from friends and family can be daunting.

That being said, growing reach on Facebook is quite possible. And it is much more important for brands to understand how “reach” functions.

In this blog, we will help you increase your Facebook reach organically and we will discuss how to measure and increase it.

What is Facebook “reach”?

In layman’s terms, Facebook reach is the number of unique users who see your post. Let’s consider a scenario where you publish a post which receives 150 views. So your reach is 150. As simple as that.

Facebook reach is always measured within a specific period. This means the metric for overall reach does not exist. Marketers should track the daily, weekly and monthly reach.

Obviously, Facebook does not literally track how many eyes see your post while scrolling. It simply tracks how many unique screens your posts are displayed on.

Always remember that Facebook reach can be measured for Page and post. If the Page’s reach is high, more people are seeing your content and vice versa. However, reach for individual posts will vary. It is because the reach is reach is influenced by a number of factors including:

• Engagement from the followers and non-followers of the page
• Type of content and optimization factors (captions, hashtags, time of posting and so on)
• Organic posts versus paid ads (latter has the reach determined according to the budget)

Reach can vary from post to post.

Different types of Facebook reach

Below are given three specific types of Facebook reach and their differences.

1. Organic reach

Mostly when Facebook reach is being discussed, they are referring to organic reach. Organic reach measures how many people saw your posts, without spending any money.

This is the hardest reach to grow. Between viral posts from major accounts of important people or major companies, constant changes in Facebook’s algorithm and competition from ads, many digital marketers have noticed the fall in numbers of organic reach for many years.

2. Viral reach

Viral reach refers to the number of people who saw your content because someone else engaged with it through likes, comments or shares. It is based on interactions from followers and non-followers alike.

You probably have seen some type of content show up in your news feed because someone else “liked” it. This is nothing but viral reach.

3. Ad reach

Ad reach refers to the number of people who saw your Facebook ads at least once. Facebook themselves have said that this is not an exact number but an estimated number.

This type of reach is unique because it is primarily based on budget and target audience. Ad reach is a measure of both, how well the ads performed and how well you managed to get your audience to engage with the ad.

Recommended Read: How to Make the Most of Social Media Tools to Save More Time and Money

Some highly efficient tactics to help increase your reach

Despite popular belief, higher reach on Facebook is not dependent on the algorithm.

Some key practices and tips are listed below to make sure that your content gets the exposure.

1. Content optimisation, captions for Facebook

As cross-platform posting has become common, this has become important. You simply cannot treat Facebook as a dumping yard for all the content meant for different platforms. Always make it a point to:

• Captions should be unique
• Don’t post external links
• Use a call-to-action button
• Ask a question to increase engagement

These tips are crucial for increasing the organic reach on Facebook and getting more support from the algorithm.

2. Be consistent in posting by scheduling them

Many of the most engaged-with accounts on Facebook post on a daily or almost-daily basis. Consistency matters for growing your reach and the algorithm understands that you are active.

3. Choose the perfect time for posting

The reach on Facebook is inter-related to the post timing. The post timing and engagement are also directly related.

Only optimising the timing of content posting will not get high reach, but it will surely increase the likelihood of your content becoming more visible.

In such a fierce competition for increased organic reach, any small trick you can use to boost the reach is a boon. Using tools, you can optimise the content-timing to gain more unique viewers.

4. Use videos to enhance engagement

It is not a hidden fact that videos perform much better on Facebook than static posts. Make sure that any form of video, be it a Live session or bite-sized promotion, your content strategy should include a video. You may notice that many shares are often videos.

5. Share all your content in Groups to increase visibility

Supplementing your page with activity engagement from Facebook groups or individual accounts (think: employees or partners) is yet another way to earn viral reach. A page has a specific number of followers meaning only those people would see your content.

Sharing all your content on Facebook groups provides an opportunity for non-followers or outsiders to see and engage with your content. This increased engagement will create a domino effect by triggering the algorithm to promote your content giving your content a better reach and engagement.

6. Shuffle the post formats

One of the best and most effective ways for increasing reach organically is to mix up all the types of post formats. If your preferred format is an image and your reach is either constant or declining, then you must experiment with a few videos and figure out their performance. If the videos you post are not getting the same reach like earlier, try making posts with links that highlight your content.

Even if the reach you are getting for your posts is high, you should experiment with different formats, keeping the content flow fresh and the audience engaged.

Recommended Read : Zero Advertising Social Media Marketing – Facts, Myths & The Honest Truth

7. Use Facebook live and engage audience

Talking about trying new formats for Facebook posts, Facebook live is highly recommended. Live video helps to create a genuine sense of community in the comments section.

And with the Facebook algorithm on your side by making the content which gets more “meaningful interactions” more visible to the audience. More visibility means more organic reach.

So create a live video for your audience and let the audience start a conversation. This will help your organic reach to grow.

8.Using attention grabbing creatives

Visually appealing content is one of the many reasons people get high reach and engagement. A survey found that 60% of the marketers believe that visual content is an important aspect in their social media strategy.

Posts having an image or video is likely to 2 times the engagement as compared to the posts without any creatives. Additionally, the posts having more engagement are more likely to reach the news feed of the users, thereby increasing reach.

But make sure you choose high quality images or videos for your Facebook post. A low quality creative could make you look unprofessional and damage your brand reputation.

9. Keep experimenting with the posting frequency

Once the step of what should be posted on Facebook is taken care of, the next step is to decide how often you will post.

Posting frequency, like posting time, depends on your audience. Your organic reach majorly depends on the willingness of your followers to engage with your content quickly.

It means if you are posting three times in a day and your followers are engaging with each post, the reach is good. But if they don’t interact with any post after commenting on one post, you should maybe slow down the posting frequency.

The solution for this problem is experimenting. Keep a track of how often you post and how much engagement you are getting on each post. With this data at your disposal, you can either choose to bump up or slow down the posting frequency.

10. Engagement comes first

Engagement on your posts will help you get the organic reach high. A question would always come to your mind, do Facebook posts get high engagement because of its high reach or do they get high reach because of its high engagement?

This is exactly like the chicken-or-the-egg situation, but here we have a solution. Changes in the Facebook algorithm have shown that the engagement has more impact on reach as opposed to reach having an impact on engagement.

Facebook algorithm pushes your content towards its users if it feels that your posts will get more users to interact with one another. Any content that gets more people interacting with the posts will definitely get more reach.

How do you get the audience to connect with each other? This depends on your audience and their interests. Some of the suggestions are listed below, which will get the conversational ball rolling.

• Asking questions or suggestions or asking the users to share their thoughts.
• Posting about trending topics, which everyone can discuss about.
• Answering every comment timely.
• Asking for community feedback regarding any new product or idea.
• Having an interactive poll or ‘QnA’ – style thread.

Facebook reach and most importantly organic reach is rewarding for any type of business. The more you spend time and effort gaining organic reach, the more fruitful your business will be in the longer run.

At WeThinkNorth, our experienced social media marketers will help you draft a strategy for social media marketing and getting high organic reach. Leave us your query here, and we will get back to you with the solutions.