4 Changes You Can Make Right Away to Improve Results on Facebook, Author Connect For Success Member and Founder of Simone & Company, Simone T. Ross

Facebook is still far and away the most powerful social media platform for business. Not only it has the audience you’re probably looking to talk to, but it has tools no other platform offers.

So, if you have a Facebook business page and you’re unhappy with the engagement you’re getting from your followers, you might just be using it wrong.

A lot has changed in the last two years on the platform and, the way we used Facebook Marketing in the past, is not working anymore. As the algorithm matures, – yes, it’s a real thing –and get new guidelines, there are new official - and not so official - rules that make some old ways of working on your Facebook business page counterproductive, if not even harmful.

So, here are the 4 main mistakes you might be making on your page, and how to fix them:

1- You’re selling: I know what you’re thinking: your business page is where you can promote your business, right? Well, yes, and no. There’s a fine line between selling and promoting. And what most people are doing is selling, and nobody wants to be sold to, especially in Social Media.

What to do instead?

Serve your audience, bring value to them. This could be different for each type of business but, I’m sure you know what that means for your industry. Value could come in the form of an educational post, a story post (not a testimonial!), a funny post (yes, people like having fun on Social Media), motivational posts and so many more. The idea here is to not talk about your business directly, or how you can help people, nor what sale you’re having. Come from a place of service.

2- You’re being inauthentic: You might not even notice that but, because Social Media is now part of our lives, some of us might have an idea of what we’re supposed to look like on Facebook. There are so many unwritten rules that have been placed in front of us, that we might have absorbed them, without being aware of it. And what happens is that our Facebook pages start to look like everyone else’s page! And we lose what’s unique about us, because we’re afraid of being judged, or worse, “un-liked”.

How to turn this around?

This issue might be deeper than what I’m suggesting but, a quick fix would be to have someone take photos of you while you’re working – behind the scenes images are real! It might feel scary in the beginning showing yourself maybe with your hair up, getting dirty with whatever you do, or not in the right light, but that will get your audience to connect with you in a more real way.

3- You don’t know your audience: This point seems pretty basic, but often we have a hard time with this one. Not only you need to know your target market, deep down, but you need to know what they’re looking for when they go to your Facebook business page.

How do you get to know them?

The only way to acquire this information is looking at the data, after you’ve posted for a while - I suggest at least 3 months. Facebook is really good at giving you lots of information on how people are engaging – or not –with your posts. Just go to the “Insights” tab and make sure to learn what those numbers are telling you, use them to your favor, and learn about how your audience behave when they’re on your page, so you can have better strategies.

4 - You’re being inconsistent: That’s the big one. No matter how great your posts are, how authentic you might be and how much you know your audience, if you’re not being consistent in posting, you’re not going to get results from Facebook. It’s simple as that.

What do I have to do to be consistent?

Currently – yes, that also changes a lot - you need to show up at least 3 times a week with new posts – that’s not counting videos or stories. That’s the bare minimum, but being consistent here is the key. There are many reasons why this is the most important aspect of Facebook Marketing, but one of them is that the algorithm needs to be trained to work for you, and posting consistently gives it, the “Algo”, updated information so it has more information to work with, and to find people that might like your page.

 These are 4 simple steps you can take now that will improve your Facebook business page immediately. By following these steps and putting some time into the quality of content you post, you can definitely see results on your Facebook page right away! And let me know how you’re doing!

Simone Talarico-Ross is a Social Media Expert and the Founder of Simone & Company Marketing Agency.