Facebook has turned its platform into a pay-to-play channel, which is distressing online marketers and small businesses.  Marketers have spent a significant amount of time building a brand reputation and social presence, focusing on content that draws the ideal audience, only to have the viewership and engagement crushed. Both brands that have spent big money on Facebook campaigns and small businesses working with limited resources to gain a fan base are no longer able to reach their fans. They’ve paid for the opportunity to gain a fan base and now it seems will have to pay to interact with those fans.

After the changes implemented by Facebook, it was projected that organic reach would decrease to one or two percent. The organic reach of Facebook’s content was declining before the December 2013 changes, but now brands are looking for marketing strategies that reach their Facebook market without breaking the bank.  Below are strategies that are working.

Visual Content

Brands are using images and visual content to attract engagement. Posts with photos garner 87 percent of the total engagement, according to a new report from Socialbakers. A photo doesn’t guarantee engagement, it just means that the posts with the most engagement include photos.

Interviews and Video Content

Every industry brings about news and interesting content. Videos used for a training series, interviews or how-to offer valuable content for any audience.  Even for the toughest of industries, marketers can focus on what’s interesting to the audience even if the content does not directly tie to the business service or product. For example, a lawn care business could share engaging videos about plant care, the best plants for various climates, or using plants to decorate a back yard or porch.

Encourage Brand Advocacy

Identify your longtime followers and invite them to join a chore group of brand advocates that will share your content across channels. Expand on this idea by partnering with other businesses that compliment your business and form a group of business partners who share offers across channels.

Combine Links and Images

Recent tests shared by Facebook marketers revealed that posts with links and images receive better results than text only posts. When creating a status update include a link to relevant information in the body of the update, once the link uploads to the post, delete the link from the text. Add a photo that compliments the content.

Facebook is well known for changing its algorithm strategies.  This is a topic we’ll be researching, and we will share new information and ideas for marketers when new changes are introduced.