Why are your Facebook likes getting less and less
Have you noticed your reach on Facebook is getting less and less?
You are coming up with what you think are fabulously creative posts and yet still there the comments and likes are so intermittent as to be non-existent?
Well, here is the reason why.
Firstly, one of the simplest reasons may be the huge increase in the number of people using the platform. This means that you are now trying to gain attention from a far larger pot than you were a couple of years ago. More and pages are being created on a daily basis so you really need to make sure that you know who your ideal client is and post things that are going to captivate your audience.
But the other reason that has cropped up relatively recently is that Facebook surveyed hundreds of thousands of people and the overwhelming response was that they didn’t want to see so much promotional content. They wanted to see interesting posts.
Facebook is rewarding quality, not quantity
Therefore, Facebook decided to reward those that created quality content that their audience really wanted to hear about rather than the constant promotions and gimmicks that are so frequently posted.
Facebook is less and less likely to show overly promotional posts that use calls to action and push for sales, to enter competitions etc.
Facebook will seek out those posts that gain interactions such as likes, shares and comments which show they are quality, relevant posts and they will help these posts to reach a wider audience.
Overall, the Facebook algorithm is rewarding those pages who post less and focus on quality rather than those which post numerous times each day that is not of much interest to the audience.
Too many people trying to widen their reach when it drops by posting more often (up to 10 times per day), but this is simply going to work against you.
To increase your reach, you need to make sure you write your posts for what your target audience wants to hear and read. Stop trying to sell so much and concentrate more on giving value and starting to build trust and relationships.
You can still promote your business of course but use your language carefully.
Rather than saying ‘click the link to buy’ try something along the lines of ‘there is something amazing awaiting you on the other side – go check it out’. Do you see the difference?
A few other tips include:
Schedule posts from Facebook rather than a third party software
Some people believe that third party apps, such as scheduling posts from HootSuite, Buffer or similar, will affect reach.
I have tried to get conclusive answers to this but there is so much conflicting information out there. If your reach is significantly dropping and you use third party apps, it may be worth trialing using Facebook’s own scheduler for a while and seeing if it makes any difference. (Do let me know the results in the comments box).
Upload videos directly to Facebook, not via YouTube links
There is numerous research that Facebook favour videos that are uploaded directly to its site rather than via links from YouTube. According to a study by Loren Baker of Search Engine Journal, they discovered that on average, native videos reach 2.04 times more people, receive 2.38 times more likes, 2.67 times more shares, and 7.43 times more comments.
Quite simply, Facebook does not like anything that drives traffic away from its site to an external source. Therefore, any post taking the audience away will simply get less reach.
Don’t overuse links to your website.
Leading on from the point above, Facebook wants to keep people on its site, not to take people away to other platforms. I have seen a few people using a new trick to try and get over this were rather than putting the external link in their main post, they create the post and tell people to look in the comments below for where to go for further information. They then simply put the link as a comment below.
Aim to gain interaction.
Facebook will increase reach to those posts that get likes, comments and even the amount of time someone spends viewing the post.
So how you can encourage this?
People like to feel good, laugh, know the latest gossip and news and be shocked! Think how you can use this in your posts. Use motivational posts, let them in on something funny that has happened in your day, give them the latest hot off the press news. These can be the type of posts that will gain likes, comments, and shares. Ask simple but fun questions!
Now for a disclaimer. At the time of writing, I believe my research and findings to be correct. But good old Facebook can change its rules and algorithms at any moment so test what works for you best and keep an eye what others are doing that are getting the interaction you so desperately want.
Happy posting.
P.S. Want a little help getting a post like? Pop the link in the comments below and I will pop over and take a look and if it’s a good one, may just leave you a like and a comment
P.P.S. Do you get stuck when trying to come up with fresh content to post on social media? Does your mind draw a blank and you get confused as to what to post next? Subscribe now to get immediate access to my simple planner and easily create a whole month’s worth of posts to attract more attention to your business.
