Recently there have been a number of articles on the failing of organic reach on social media, specifically Facebook. There has also been an equal number showing frustration at the ineffectiveness of content and the unrelenting demand to create original branded content. Since the main benefits of social media has been it’s low cost of entry and ability to easily share one’s thoughts and ideas, there is now a growing tension as these benefits seem to be falling way to paid options being forced upon by Social Media applications. Though Facebook is the first, the trend is moving swiftly for all to follow. What can be done to retain organic reach and manageable costs of good content? Here are 3 things you should ask your agency before signing up and you can also try them yourself.
Real Fans of quality - This is a painful lesson many are just now learning. Having Fans on your page for sake of numbers is very damaging to your marketing success. Fans that are only there for free stuff or, even worse fake, are unlikely to ever purchase. What makes it worse is that Facebook limits the number of your Fans that will see a message to less than 10%, therefore, low quality Fans will continue to soak up your marketing budget without ever returning a cent. Advice is to look for people interested in your Brand. Invite them with value propositions that suggest willingness for future purchase and look to KOL’s that have strong Fan bases (not necessarily huge) as this is what increases reach and ROI.
Listen to your Fans, content is King - most Facebook accounts struggle with keeping Fan’s interest with one or two posts a day. PRDA posts 2 to 3 times more messages a day and our clients have organic engagement rates 2 times that of their peers. How do we do it? Simple, we listen to the Fans. We select and post content they enjoy but is still inline with brand story and TOV. We write optimised messages specific to the application that makes it easier for Fans to see and select what they like out of all the choices in their newsfeed. And we look at the data to make sure we are listening to what the Fan’s want and not what we think they want to see.
Social Media Cooperative - Cooperation is the simplest way to gain strength. Small and medium size businesses are our passion at PRDA. A single small business with few thousand Fans will not be able to support itself on that. But when 10’s or hundreds of SME’s agree to share product messages across each other’s profiles something spectacular happens. Not only does the reach expand by the number of Fans of all profiles posted on, but through the act of “sharing” a bump in views is seen due to the “reputational value” added through the act of sharing. PRDA manages social media cooperatives for SME’s to ensure quality posting, non-competitiveness and appropriateness. Our small businesses overcome limited reach by doing what is the essence of social media. . . sharing.
Much success,
Douglas White
Founder
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