Want to Be Seen on Facebook? You’ve Got to Think Like a User, Not a Marketer!

What do you do when you find yourself leaving the same long (very long) comment over and over again about the same subject on Facebook? Write a blog post, of course. Duh!

I know that many business owners are frustrated with the decline of their organic reach on Facebook, but if you look at Facebook from the User’s perspective, you’ll understand why Facebook’s changing algorithm is a very necessary engine in they way it all works. I’ve read some great articles with excellent tips on increasing your organic reach, but also too many articles out there about how Facebook does not work and that you’ve got to “pay to play”. It’s true that paying for Facebook ads (make sure they are highly targeted) will boost your exposure in the newsfeeds of users, but what about someone who isn’t ready to spend money on ads? Should they throw in the towel? Absolutely Not! If your business is not on Facebook, you are missing out on a plethora of potential business! If you are just starting out, or your ads budget is very tight or non-existent at the moment, you CAN improve your page’s organic posts. You just have to stop thinking like a marketer, and start thinking like a user.

think-like-a-user-monelico-com

One of the biggest challenges many business owners struggle with is overlooking the fact that Facebook is designed with the USER in mind, not the marketers. What they/you see in your newsfeed is based on your behavior and your settings, that’s all. You’ll never see everything from everyone in your newsfeed. It would be scrolling so fast you could never read it anyway.

Continue reading

Like Gating is Gone! And I Couldn’t Be Happier!

Approximately 90 days ago, Facebook announced on its Developer’s Blog that it would do away with Like-Gating by November 5, 2014 (that’s in 2 days).  “Like-Gating” is requiring someone to like your page in order to see content or enter a contest.  Many pages used this method of acquiring likes but was it getting them the right kind of likes?  Like-Gating is almost as bad as participating in Like Ladders or Like Exchange Groups.  You want to know why organic reach is down?  BECAUSE YOU HAVE A BUNCH OF FANS WHO LIKED YOUR PAGE FOR THE WRONG REASON!  If you sell apples and run a contest giving away oranges to everyone who likes your page, don’t complain when you orange-loving fans are not engaging with your page about apples!  It’s an extreme and silly example, but I hope you get the point.  If you have not yet read my post on how Like Ladders kill your reach and visibility, please take some time to read it now. It’s long (and I apologize in advance for that) but it has a lot of info and explains how Facebook works when it comes to what people see in their News Feeds. Continue reading

Not All Likes Are Good Likes

This week in my 5 Week E-Course: How to Increase Your Visibility on Facebook Easily, Ethically and Free we are discussing low quality Likes, how to remove them, and how to prevent them from decreasing your visibility.  Below are some of the actions steps I shared with my enrolled course members:

 

Stop Participating in Like Ladders

These get you a bunch of low quality likes that make you invisible to your high quality, interested fans.  Learn all about how Like Ladders and Like Exchanges are hurting your reach and visibility in this detailed blog post.

fff-warning

Continue reading

Best Times To Post on Facebook?

I decided to create this quick blog post to address the question, “What is the best time to post on Facebook for highest engagement?”  First of all the time of day or day of the week won’t matter much if the content itself is not engaging.  I discussed this and gave some links to some great resources for creating and finding engaging content in a previous blog post.  Secondly, I want to point out that there is no one-size-fits-all “best” time to post because every Business Page has a different target audience.  The best way to determine your most optimal time to post is to check your own Insights. Continue reading

Like Ladders and Exchanges Make You LESS Visible on Facebook!

stop-like-laddersThis topic has been coming up a lot with my clients lately, so I thought I would create a reference post with my advice on how Like Ladders/Exchanges could be hurting your reach on Facebook.

First, let me clarify what a Like Ladder or Like Exchange is.  It is a very common practice among small business networks on Facebook.  The basic principle is to post your Page in a comment thread and ask for Likes.  In exchange you agree to Like all the other Pages on that same thread.  These definitely work for getting your number of Likes up, but most of the time Continue reading