“What are you to do when your businesses success relies on Facebook and Facebook keep changing the goal posts?”
It’s what small businesses ask themselves on a regular basis as they struggle to master the Facebook algorithm and changes
Mark Zuckerberg has announced major plans to revamp Facebook in 2018 and at the heart of these changes is the core of Facebook – the Facebook news feed
On a Facebook post this week Zuckerberg announced
“The first changes you’ll see will be in News Feed, where you can expect to see more from your friends, family and groups.
As we roll this out, you’ll see less public content like posts from businesses, brands, and media. And the public content you see more will be held to the same standard — it should encourage meaningful interactions between people”
So thumbs up for using Facebook on a personal level
For promoting your small business on Facebook – not so good
In our latest blog we look at the ways you can still keep grow your business in spite of the latest Facebook changes (without handing more and more £££s over to paid Facebook adverts)
1. Diversify Your Social Marketing Channels
Your whole business should not be based on one marketing channel
If your business lives or dies on the basis of Facebook existing, that puts your whole business in a very perilous position
Imagine if your business had been built on Myspace, Bebo or Vine
It’s true that everyone is on Facebook and it has a lot more users than Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Snapchat and so on – but there is still business to be had on the other channels
When training clients we always say master 2 social media channels – the ones where your customers are on – and then add others to the mix and maximise
Think of every channel as an opportunity to grow your business
2. Produce Better Content
Great content will always shine through
One of the key phrases in Zuckerbergs announcement is that it will prioritise posts that trigger “conversations and meaningful interactions between people
Content that engages people in a meaningful way and creates a dialog with your audience will still break through
It’s 2018 and you should be putting engagement at the core of what you do – this has always been the case, but this recent change is your big wakeup call
Take a look at your facebook page and honestly analyse
– Which posts have been more than buy now, click here or just dull mundane updates?
– Which posts have got engagement on it?
– What do your audience love?
3. Use Facebook Groups
Facebook groups are better than LinkedIn groups now – there I said it 🙂
We’re not talking about the buy and sell groups
We’re not talking about the spam fest groups
We’re talking about the “Business Recommendation” groups, the groups where the admin facilitates discussions, the groups that truly embody the word community
You probably need to disregard 50% of the facebook groups out there, but you’ll find some great hyper local ones out there which as long as you contribute as much as you try to sell you’ll get a lot out of
4. Focus on Your Website More
Your website should be a central hub to everything
If you’re not focusing on your website content in terms of new blogs each week then you’re seriously missing out
Blogging when consistently offering value to your target audience will be one of your core pillars of success
Thing about why you’ve landed on this page – social media may be the distributor, but the website is the hub that brings everything together
We’ve got 350 blogs on our website that drive traffic and business every single day now
5. Remember it’s more than about you you you
Are you sabotaging your friends social media posts was one of our most read blogs last year
At the core of it was the fact we’re too concerned with ourselves rather than everyone around us – with these latest changes the questions are coming up – how will it affect myself rather than how will affect myself (and those around me)
Think how many times you’ve shared the success of a celebrity on social media or shared the missing cat of a total stranger
And then you see a friend business success or new offer and you notice it but scroll past it without an interaction
If you don’t promote it, you’re demoting it
A like is quite light touch engagement (i.e it takes no effort) but it helps a lot to get the word out – with these latest changes why not actually comment, share and ask questions on the posts as well
Remember social networks have no idea you’ll mention it to them face to face when you see them outside the school gates, in the pub or at the local football match
If you don’t interact on the social media platforms you’re demoting the post
6. Meet People In Real Life
Make it your 2018 resolution to get away from the computer and meet people in real life at networking meetings
If an introvert who runs a social media company is saying that it’s time to take note
Networking has always been a huge part of our business – it’s where we build relationships, it’s where we help others, it’s where we win business
And we use social media to strengthen those real life relationships
If you’re nervous about networking – attend your 1st networking event with a friend to ease yourself into it
NEED HELP WITH YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA?
Chat to about Social Media Marketing for YOUR organisation , so we can better understand YOU and what will grow your organisation
We can only find out what is unique to your business by chatting with you
Look at our Social Media Training and Social Media Management services
Or
Please call Alex on 07806774279 or email alex@altrinchamhq.co.uk
