When choosing between paying for something and getting it for free on Facebook which would you rather have?
Me?
I am going for FREE every single time.
It's no different when it comes to getting reach for your posts on Facebook.
The problem is that Facebook has tightened their algorithm (the one that chooses what makes it in to your News Feed) so much that it's almost impossible to get your posts in front of your community without paying for ads.
You can't blame them.
Facebook is a publicly traded company and in business to make money for its shareholders. So, don't hate the player. Just learn to play the game!
I am still getting AH-MAZING free reach and I want to show you how you can too.
That's why I decided to put together this list of my top 5 “all-time” best post ideas to drive big (FREE!) reach on Facebook”.
Low Facebook Reach is NOT Your Fault
I will say it again…it’s NOT your fault. The truth is that they have stacked the cards against you.
Although they haven't released official stats recently, several studies show that the average organic (FREE!) Facebook reach percentages hover in the very low single digits.
Let me put it another way.
If you post 8 “status updates” a day to your Fan Page for an entire week, guess how many, on average, your Fans will see without paying Facebook money to show your posts to them?
O-N-E! (that’s only one more than ZERO!)
I do a little (A LOT actually) better than that. For all of 2016 I averaged a daily reach of…well, you can see for yourself:
I have a little under 400,000 Fans, so that gives me an average daily reach north of 340%. And, I don’t spend a penny on ads to boost my posts!
Wanna’ know how I do it?
I am gonna tell ya’.
As background, I first published a post on how you too can get free Facebook reach over two years ago. I updated that post last year. So far, 200,000+ people have viewed the post and shared it 47,000+ times!
Why?
What I am doing works!
Well, sort of…
What’s working NOW on Facebook is a lot different that what used to work.
Just as Facebook has evolved, your posting strategy has to evolve to stay ahead of the masses, appeal to the post ranking formula and make it to your Fan’s News Feeds.
Here is only the best of what’s working right NOW!
My Top 5 Killer Facebook Post Ideas
#1 – Use Facebook Live!
Facebook Live, the free live streaming app is not necessarily new. Celebrities, athletes, movie stars and a few chosen “influencers” have been able to use it for months, but now it’s been rolled out to everybody.
That’s kind of a big deal.
But what’s REALLY a big deal is how Facebook is looking at video. At the most recent F8 conference in San Francisco, CEO Mark Zuckerberg told the world that video was going to be front and center on their platform for the foreseeable future.
Also, they have tweaked their post ranking algorithm and made several other changes that give video, and especially Facebook Live videos, a serious nod in the free reach area – like a 10x factor when it comes to more REACH!
Bottom line, use Facebook Live and your free reach numbers will go up, way up.CLICK TO TWEET
Want to see some proof? Check out the stats from one of my Facebook Live video broadcasts.
Yep, you guessed it, $0 (ZERO DOLLARS) spent on advertising here too!
[RELATED: 4 Reason Why Facebook Live is Now a Leading Player in the Live Streaming World]#2 – Animated GIFs are Fun (and HOT!)
You have seen Graphics Interchange Format posts, or GIFs. They are the animated pictures that move. They get a lot of free reach NOT necessarily because Facebook gives them any special ranking algorithm treatment, but because they are the type of content that gets shared…A LOT!
To make sure they work you will need to copy and paste the url of the GIF into the “status update” box. Uploading an animated GIF using the “add photos/video” function does not work, at this time.
There are lots of GIF makers out there. I like giphy.com, animatedgif.net and gifs.net.
#3 – Make them Laugh (Humor works!)
Quick test…take five seconds and look at THIS!
Did you laugh?
Did you feel like sharing it?
My point point exactly!
Social media should be social, and sharing a laugh is about as social as you can get. Until Facebook becomes an entirely “pay for play” platform, humor is always going to get free reach because people like to SHARE a laugh.
And, it is ALWAYS going to make any list I ever put together on what’s working now on Facebook too!
#4 – Upload Your Videos Directly to Facebook!
Here we are again, VIDEO!
Are you noticing a trend?
I am telling ya’, it’s THAT big and there is no quicker way to get free reach than by uploading your videos directly to Facebook (NOT just a link from YouTube or Vimeo).
So, even if you are not into the whole “Live Streaming” thing yet, you can take advantage of the extra pop Facebook is giving to native videos uploaded directly to Facebook as a “status update”.
They also have several other very cool options such as creating a photo carousel, slide show (which looks like a video!) or a multi-media “Canvas” if you want to get really fancy.
#5 – Motivate and Inspire Them!
People love to laugh (see #3 above) and they love to be motivated and inspired.
I spent about 20 minutes creating the video below and published it on my Fan Page less than 60 days ago. It has already reached almost 5 million people and been shared over 110,000 times.
Why? I'll show you…
Let's do a little test.
Click the start button on the video (the arrow in the middle) and spend 1 minute and 19 seconds of your day watching it…
How you feel right now is exactly my point. Make people feel that kind of emotion and they will come back again and again to get your content. More importantly, they will also share it with their communities every time.
So is that it?
Not even close!
27 Killer Facebook Post Ideas 2.0
The five post ideas above are definitely what’s H-O-T and part of what’s working now, but NOT everything. There are 22 more included in my brand new FREE guide 27 Killer Facebook Post Ideas 2.0.
85,000+ people downloaded my first version of this guide. This is the NEW, UPDATED one and includes only the things that have I have personally tested and proven to work on my very own Fan Page.
It’s my FREE gift to you! Just tell me where to send it!
What’s working for you on your Fan Page? I would love to hear in the comments section below!
[RELATED: 17 Killer Facebook Post Ideas for Small Business Owners]About Author
Your content is really amazing and really helpful with basics to boost your brand marketing. We are implementing each and every technique being shared by you and hoping for positive results.
Really thankful to you.
Keep sharing.