Organic reach via Facebook for pages to hit 0%?

For a number of years, having a Facebook page has been the marketing/blogging option of choice for many businesses as it provided a great mechanism for companies to connect with their customers. Sadly, recent changes to the way Facebook presents posts from company pages means those days are over and now, more than ever, you need to blog on your own website.

I have been a huge advocate of Facebook for a number of years, it was a no-brainer! Everyone you know has a Facebook account, right? Posts from your company page featured nicely on the Newsfeed of your fans/followers, until recently.  Over the last six months or so, the organic reach of posts from company pages has been declining, down from 12% to just over 6%. Valley Wag is reporting that Facebook has plans to reduce company page organic reach down to 1-2%. Essentially the free ride is over.

Personally, this highlighted a few things I've been thinking about lately. Firstly, it is more important than ever to have your own blog, to own your own content and have control over it. Yes, still use social media to engage with customers and advocates, but use social media as more of a tool to drive people to your website - where you manage the content and interaction.

Secondly, it is important to have control over how you connect with customers and potential customers. Having an "Opt-In"/"Newsletter"/"Get Updates" option on your website to build your own CRM database of contacts is a great start.  You can market directly to these people every so often via email, pushing them to relevant information on your website.

If you still want to organically "reach" new people on Facebook, you're going to have to pay for it. This doesn't mean it's time to say goodbye to Facebook just yet. Facebook will still be a useful way for customers to contact you and a way to build an audience. You can still post and link to content on your website - but you're going to have to make that content great so that people want to share it. Finally, if you want to continue to grow your audience on social media, you might consider social ads that feature a friend's endorsement "Your friend Emma likes ABC Organic Skin Care". According to a Neilsen Study, social ads with endorsement are recalled 55% more often than non-social ads.

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