Marketing on Facebook continues to get harder and harder as the Zuckerberg team continues to update and tweak their algorithms on a regular basis.
What they have in store for 2015 could make getting those coveted likes and shares even harder than ever before.
Facebook announced that pages that post overly promotional content will no longer see the light of your newsfeed. The reason behind this is that Facebook surveyed thousands of people and found that they want to see more stories from friends and pages, and not promotional content.
This falls in line with content marketing as a whole, which has been overtaking the internet marketing world over the past couple of years. Content marketing is disseminating content that isn't promotional of a companies' products or services.
When you can tell a story, your customers are more likely to relate to that story and see themselves as a part of it. They are then more likely to engage, share, and like because they don't feel like they are just pushing advertorial content.
Anything that people in your industry will find helpful, but that doesn't directly come across as promoting your pages products and services.
If you don't have these pieces of resourceful content - or even a blog - then you're well behind in the content marketing game and you need to get started yesterday.
You can start with something that you can do on your own, something that is a little more affordable, or go big and do something more visually appealing like infographics.
Another way to continue to be seen on your audience's newsfeed is by taking already-trending and viral topics relevant to your industry and sharing them. Chances are good that since it has so many likes and social shares, and because it's not promotional, it will show up on more news feeds.
Ideally, a lot of people say that 80% of your content you share online should be resourceful content or someone else's and the remaining 20% about you or promoting your brand.
It can be tough to follow the 80/20 rule because you spend a lot of time (and money) on posting and engaging on social media, and you want it to count for you.
This doesn't mean you have to do is share your competitors' content, unless it is so amazing and useful to your audience that it would benefit them.
First, because of the reason stated before. If it is trending in your industry and being shared a lot, then chances are your post from your page will hit more people's news feeds.
Secondly, because sharing is caring. As you share industry-related content and engage with the author, or share it multiple times, they may take notice. When it comes time for you to share your content and you need a boost from an influencer, then there is more of a chance they will return the favor.
If you don't post much socially, then this can be a little tougher. Every post you make you want it to count for gaining you more fans, likes, and potentially some sales.
Social media isn't going anywhere, well, ever, so it is something you really need to start investing some time and money into.
Growing a social audience and engaging with them is a ranking factor that most businesses aren't really practicing. Rand Fishkin, or Randa Claus, of Moz talks about this in their Christmas "Whitebeard" Friday video here:
So make 2015 the year where you start engaging with your audience, creating great content that is useful or tells a story, and package that with some SEO to really start seeing your website generate more leads and revenue.
If you need help doing this fill out the form at the bottom of our Facebook marketing page and we will be in touch to set up a free consultation.