Facebook Organic Reach Decline? Here’s why & how to Fix it
Is your Facebook Organic Reach down? Hardly anyone seeing your posts on Facebook these days? In this post I am diving into why your Facebook Organic reach might be down, and how you can fix it.
The Facebook algorithm is secret, so we cannot for 100% sure say what is causing lower reach, but based on Facebook strategy, here’s what we can say about how you might unintentionally be harming your reach. Here we go…
Oh and before we start: Facebook not only look at what you write, but also what you say in your videos (their software analyses what you say, even live) and what you write in your graphics!
Why your Facebook Organic Reach might be down
- You are not creating conversations or you are too explicit in asking for conversations.
Let’s start with Facebook’s strategy. Facebook has been struggling to keep people on the platform in the past few years. And therefore, Facebook is now focusing on high quality content that gets real engagement. Real engagement means that people are authentically interacting with content. High quality content means content that is not salesy and content that does not specifically ask for engagement for the sake of engagement. Instead, the content should be so good and well thought out that it creates real conversations, without asking for it. This also means that any content that asks for “share this post”, “comment below”, “give us a like”, “give us a thumbs up”, and so on will be punished by the algorithm. The same goes for asking people to comment with 1 word, for example “say ebook if you want to receive my ebook”. This is not authentic and it is not generating real conversations and therefore this is punished by the algorithm.
Recommendation: make sure whenever you create your posts, that you do not actively ask for engagement but that you create your post in such a way that you still get engagement but you don’t actively ask for it. - You are using salesy words Facebook don’t like! Facebook doesn’t like salesy posts, or posts that promise results! So if you are using words that indicate you want a sale like free promotion, challenge, giveaway, discount, 50% off, make money, easy profit, get rich, coupon, buy, book, buy now then that will harm your reach. And also, when you use words that show scarcity or urgency, like only today, limited supply, 3 days left. And also words like ad, sponsored, affiliate. This is all seen by Facebook as content that they don’t want to give a high reach in the algorithm. If you’ve been using these words, then that might be the reason why your reach is low. There is no list of what those words are, and the list is changing as smart marketers come up with new ideas. The best idea is to read through your post and see: is there anything in here that might sound salesy or like a get rich quick scheme?
Recommendation: limit the use of salesy words that clearly indicate that you are selling something. If you want to make sure people see your offer, use email marketing or ads. - Your content is not original
Facebook prefers original content, and that means if you share the same content in a few places, those shared posts will get lower reach. Also, if you share other people’s content constantly, these posts will get lower reach too, because it’s not original content that you are creating. So make sure that you are creating original content and you are not re-sharing identical posts on various pages or in various groups.
Recommendation: focus on original content. You can still share other peoples’ content, just don’t expect many people to actually see it. - You are including external links.
Facebook and the Facebook shareholders don’t only look at the amount of people that come to the platform, but also at how long they spend on there. If you include external links, you will drive people off the platform. And Facebook doesn’t like that!
Recommendation: only include external links if absolutely necessary. Some people say that you get better reach if the link is put in the first comment, I have not seen proof of that, so if you don’t have to, don’t include links. - You are using canva images. I’ve noticed a huge decline in reach when I use canva images in my posts.
Recommendation: Posts without images or with photos of people perform way better than posts with pictures that are created in canva (like the one at the top of this post).
That’s it, 5 reasons your Facebook Organic reach might be down and how to fix it!
As a bonus number 6: Facebook doesn’t like political, religious posts either, nor posts claiming weight loss, posts with nudity, sex or drugs… These will probably be banned instead of getting low reach.
Do you need help with your Facebook Marketing Strategy? That’s what I help online entrepreneurs with! You can schedule a free 30-minute coffee call with me, where we can discuss your biggest challenge and how I could further help you grow your business. You can book it here.
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