Organic Reach For Facebook Business Pages has declined
Facebook is a great tool to educate, communicate and engage with your clients and the local community but do you know how to get the most out of Facebook?
There was a time when we thought that by posting on Facebook and through ‘organic reach’ we would have clients rushing to book appointments. However, you cannot just post on a Facebook Page anymore and expect ‘organic’ results, in fact, organic reach is so five years ago (2012).
What exactly is ‘organic reach’?
Brian Boland who leads the Ads Product Marketing team at Facebook, says it best “organic reach refers to how many people you can reach for free on Facebook by posting to your Page”.
Brian states, organic reach on Facebook has declined for two main reasons:
- Content overload – on average, there are 1,500 stories that could appear in a person’s News Feed each time they log on to Facebook. For people with lots of friends and Page ‘likes’ – as many as 15,000 potential stories could appear any time they log on.
- How the Facebook Algorithm delivers content – rather than showing people heaps of content, the newsfeed algorithm is designed to show people content most relevant to them, based on their behaviour and engagement with other information on Facebook.Want to learn more about the Facebook Algorithm? Watch this video for more information.
Although organic reach has been declining since 2012, some business Pages have managed to achieve higher than average hits to their Page, due to a combination of the following factors – explained perfectly by a Facebook expert, Mari Smith – such as:
- the perfect mix of relevant content
- the right frequency of posting
- the best mix of content types, e.g. more video and Live broadcasts
- regularly responding and connecting with readers.
Unless you’re one of these Pages which are commonly referred to as the ‘outliers’, there are a few tricks you will need to do to ensure your content is seen by the relevant audiences.
Tips that your business can do right now to optimise your Facebook Page
1. Facebook Advertising
Many healthcare practitioners often ask “can a healthcare business succeed with Facebook Advertising?” The answer is simple, yes! Your business can benefit greatly from advertising with Facebook.
Facebook has over 15 million active Australia users each month (Social Media News). This is a huge opportunity to reach more people in your local area and you can do this cost-effectively through Facebook Advertising.
Splice Marketing has worked with healthcare professionals and businesses for over three years and has seen Facebook Ads work wonders in driving brand awareness, building rapport with clients, the community and achieving new patient bookings!
Here’s some proof….
A physio client of ours, achieved a massive 20 x return on ad spend from a two month “traffic” campaign and over the two months listed 17 new patients from online advertising (some Google AdWords campaigns included).
One of our gynaecology clients in NSW took our advice and Facebook delivered a 18 x return on their Facebook Ad spend – and their ads continue to bring a steady stream of new patients to their surgery.
Price is often a barrier but the good news is that Facebook Ads won’t cost much! You can pay as little as $5 a day for an ongoing ad – or set up a budget to promote one select piece of content, (such as $30) and you only pay when someone interacts with your content (views or clicks or watches your video).
Knowing what content to put in your ad can also deter some professional but by partnering with us at Splice Marketing, we can design the ads for you and give you great advice when you’re ready to launch your ads.
Schedule a FREE 30 min Facebook consultation with Splice Marketing Director, Ellie, and get great easy to use top-tips as she guides you through the Facebook Ads process. Get started today!
Whilst we are on the topic of paying to promote in Facebook, here is our one hot-tip that I must share…
Avoid the boost button!
When you hit that ‘boost’ button, the Facebook ad algorithms view your business as a “somewhat novice advertiser”.
Facebook is now encouraging more and more businesses to allocate a mere 10% of their advertising budget to using the Boost button. The remaining 90% is allocated to Facebook Ads run through Facebook Ads Manager.
Learn How To Create Your Own Facebook Ad
2. Share-worthy and engaging content
Your goal with everything you post on Facebook is to make it interesting, factual and helpful which meant that your followers will want to share it with their friends.
You’ve got to know your audience! To increase the engagement rate on your Page, you should create content enjoyed by your clients so they will share and look forward to seeing new content.
Share-worthy content will vary depending on the field of healthcare services you’re in. Send us an email and we will happily send you some recommendations for content ideas (no strings attached).
3. Video
In 2018, Facebook will really push for users to consume more and more video (confirmed by the Facebook experts including Mari Smith).
There is no escaping video – embrace it, love it, do it, repeat…
For healthcare professionals, a video is powerful for a multitude of reasons:
- educating your clients about symptoms, conditions or treatments
- building trust and rapport between the healthcare professional on the video and the viewer on the other end of the video
- positioning yourself as a thought-leader in your field and building your profile in the community
Find out the reasons why Splice Marketing recommend a video to our healthcare clients. Read our blog – Video Marketing For Healthcare Professionals or watch our video
And, if you want some quick inspiration… here is a variety of videos we’ve worked with our clients to produce.
Brisbane Spine Clinic: Promotional Video
Wellspring Chiropractic: Stretches Tips Video
Splice Marketing – About Us Animation Video
The Wrap-up
I hope you’re feeling more confident and understand a little more about how Facebook works, what not to do – post and they will come – and what to do – invest a little in Facebook Ads, include a video but most importantly – make your content share-worthy!
Contact Ellie now to receive a FREE 30 min Facebook consultation.
Splice Marketing continues to bring out regular blog posts, resources, and training videos to help you understand Facebook and how you can make it work for your healthcare business.
We’d love your feedback about any of the content covered in this blog so please leave us a comment below.
