{"id":4873,"date":"2016-01-28T18:06:29","date_gmt":"2016-01-28T08:06:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.staging.tired-sense.flywheelsites.com\/?p=4873"},"modified":"2023-07-19T15:27:42","modified_gmt":"2023-07-19T05:27:42","slug":"5-mistakes-didnt-realize-youre-making-facebook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/undullify.com\/5-mistakes-didnt-realize-youre-making-facebook\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Mistakes You Didn\u2019t Realize You\u2019re Making on Facebook"},"content":{"rendered":"

5 Mistakes You Didn\u2019t Realize You\u2019re Making on Facebook<\/strong><\/h1>\n
ADRIENNE WOLTER | 28 JAN 16<\/h6>\n

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With\u00a01.59 billion users<\/a>, Facebook is the most popular social network in the world. It is definitely a place you should be if you are trying to reach an audience.<\/p>\n

However, popular as it is, Facebook is still a widely misunderstood social platform.<\/p>\n

One of the most misunderstood features? The Facebook newsfeed.<\/p>\n

The newsfeed debuted in 2006 to a user base that didn\u2019t really understand it. Previously, the action had taken place directly on users\u2019 profiles.<\/p>\n

However, the newsfeed gave Facebook a central focus; a place for updates to reach the masses. This opened Facebook up as a marketing tool.<\/p>\n

Now, there is too much stuff posted on Facebook every day<\/a> to be shown to users in a chronological feed, so an algorithm determines what users do and do not see. You\u2019re not just fighting with other businesses for airtime; you\u2019re competing for a very limited space with a user\u2019s friends\u2019 posts and sponsored content.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re not just fighting with other businesses for airtime; you\u2019re competing for a very limited space with a user\u2019s friends\u2019 posts and sponsored content.<\/p>\n

The average user has 338 friends<\/a> and likes 40 pages<\/a> \u2013 that\u2019s a lot of updates, which is why Facebook has to throttle the number of people who see every post.<\/p>\n

Understanding Facebook Reach<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The number of users who see your posts for free, just through you posting them on your page, is called organic reach.<\/p>\n

Your reach is affected by a number of factors, including the size of your audience (how many people like your page), how much they engage with your posts, and exactly how they engage.<\/p>\n

If you have an audience of people who heavily share your updates, you are going to see a much greater organic reach than a page with a similarly-sized audience that does not like to share your updates.<\/p>\n

Average organic reach is really low \u2013 hovering around 2.6%<\/a>. I know what you\u2019re thinking \u2013 you mean to tell me that I\u2019ve built up a fanbase of thousands of fans, and less than 3% of them are seeing my posts?!<\/em> Well, yes and no.<\/p>\n

You can see your exact reach by looking at some of the recent posts you\u2019ve made on your Facebook page, and calculate your percentage by dividing the number of people who saw your post by your number of fans.<\/p>\n

A recent (and fairly typical) post on my Facebook page<\/a> reached 387 people:<\/p>\n

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If I divide that reach by my number of Facebook fans (currently, 2,642, though the number has gone up a little since this was posted), I get a reach of 14.6%. The post did get a little engagement (3 likes, and a number of clicks through to the article), which probably helped raise it beyond the average of 2.6%.<\/p>\n

You know why the average reach is so low? The heart of it is that Facebook pages don\u2019t make enough of an effort to make their posts engaging to the audience they have built. They\u2019re probably making a number of the mistakes below.<\/p>\n

But if you aren\u2019t (or you stop making these mistakes, starting now), you too can reach a greater percentage of your audience. Keep reading to learn what not to do \u2013 and what you should be doing instead!<\/p>\n

The heart of it is that Facebook pages don\u2019t make enough of an effort to make their posts engaging to the audience they have built. They\u2019re probably making a number of the mistakes below.<\/p>\n

But if you aren\u2019t (or you stop making these mistakes, starting now), you too can reach a greater percentage of your audience. Keep reading to learn what not to do \u2013 and what you should be doing instead!<\/p>\n

Keep reading to learn what not to do \u2013 and what you should be doing instead!<\/p>\n

1. Posting Overly-Promotional Updates<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Your posts to your Facebook page are not ads \u2013 so don\u2019t treat them that way.<\/p>\n

So many pages seem to forget this, sending promotional message after promotional message. Buy our product! Subscribe to our newsletter! Visit our website! Buy our services! Sign up now!<\/p>\n

Your audience is not a captive audience, at your disposal for advertising. Remember, your followers could un-like your page (or mute your updates) at any time.<\/p>\n

The fact is, self-promotional material just isn\u2019t very engaging or valuable to most users. Sometimes, this is difficult to feel out as a business; after all, people are liking your business, so they must be interested, right?<\/p>\n

What to Do Instead:<\/strong><\/p>\n

As a general rule of thumb, the majority of your updates shouldn\u2019t be about you<\/em> \u2013 they should be about them<\/em>. What can you post that is helpful, useful, inspiring, or amusing for your audience?<\/p>\n

Bluehost<\/a> is one example of a brand that does a great job balancing promotional posts with non-promotional ones. Here are three recent posts on their page:<\/p>\n\n\t\t