After weeks of talking about how to increase reach and engagement via social media, I thought I’d share a little insight into a couple of methods that did not work for me, particularly on Facebook.
I’ve read blogs upon upon blogs on blogging and almost every social media expert who preach on the benefits of Facebook and how to increase reach tell the same things. Post often, don’t post too often, post images, don’t talk too much, share and share some more.
May I have a show of hands if you’ve tried them all? I have.
If you use Facebook to promote your blog and products on, you’ll probably be as frustrated as I am with it. Just a change in algorithm could mean that whatever you’ve been doing may be rendered completely useless. Want your post to reach a wider audience? Pay up. Want your page to gain more likes? Pay up.
What makes it even more frustrating for me is that most of the Facebook tips I read about don’t work for my page at all. In today’s Bloggie Wednesday, I thought I’d show you how my methods of increasing reach on my Facebook page defied all the must-dos that social media experts preach about. Bear in mind though that these methods do not work for me. They have worked for many people. Maybe even you.
Myth 1: Post images as they increase reach
Images take up a lot more room than regular status updates or links. They use a lot more “real estate” space on the Facebook timeline which increases visibility. I read that instead of posting your latest blog post’s link to share as a status update, use an image from the post and post that image with a link instead. I tried that and for a month or two, it worked. Unfortunately, things went downhill after a while.
Funny thing was, when I went back to just posting the title and link (short and boring, right?), that post reached a wider audience instead images. Even links with thumbnails don’t have a higher reach than standard title + link. Very strange but the latter works for me.
*shakes head*
Myth 2: Posting shorter amount of text (less characters) has higher engagement than longer posts
Shorter amount of text (similar to Twitter’s limit of 140 characters) supposedly increases the amount of reach to a wider audience. This is highly recommended by social media experts. This is not true for me.
The longer my posts, the higher amount of text I write, the wider my reach. The reach figures increase every time I write an essay as a status update.
*shakes head again*
So, what’s my point of telling you all this? I’d like you to try out all these methods. The so-called “myths” and what I did instead. See which one works best for you. There’s no absolute method that will work for everyone. What works for me may not work for you and vice versa. Social media experts can only tell you what works for them. They can preach till the cows come home but if they don’t work for you, then it’s best to not waste your time and just move on to other methods.
The best way to know what gives you the best reach to the widest audience is to experiment with different methods and then experiment some more. Use the Facebook Insights feature to your advantage. Post when your followers are most active on Facebook.
Frankly speaking, Facebook still shits me big time. I too am still learning how to get it to work for me and my blog the best it could without me needing to fork out heaps of cash. If you’ve managed to hit the jackpot on getting Facebook to work well for you, bravo! No really, I’m happy for you because it’s not easy. If possible, do share what has worked for you.
In the meantime, experiment, experiment, experiment. Hopefully you’ll hit the jackpot too.
Good luck!
IMHO I would have thought one of the best ways of getting ‘real’ readership up (ie those readers that come back time and again, not one off hits that toss you aside after a week or two – blurgh!) is to link with fellow bloggers that are of a similar mind. If I really like a particular blog I’m always on the look out for a similar blog to add to my list, mainly because there are so few I really love and keep on keeping on with.
Just a one off post listing out some of your favorites and why is a good thing for me as a reader – and that blog does you back as well and some of their favorites…and so on. Its hard to find blogs that are your style and you like I find, so I end up not really bothering, and finding myself obsessing about something stupid when I’m bored instead of having enough to read to keep me busy (can you tell I don’t have any work today? lol)…
I do get that you don’t want to ‘chase’ readers away, but to be honest, if they love you and what you do, there’s enough room in people’s lives (especially now with smart phones and public transport) to read loads, so they’ll always come back. I only have about 5 I keep coming back to, some less regularly than others (that’s mainly because they don’t post as much though tbh), but all are in my quick type list 🙂
That’s just my two pence worth anyway 🙂
Hilary recently posted..Life got busy…..Work update
I totally get what you mean Hilary. I reckon that’s why lovely readers of mine (like you!) come back to my blog. I’m glad y’all like what I do. My quick type list has blogs that I subscribed to via email and every time I get an update, I make sure I check it out and usually leave a comment. The rest would be in my Newsify app.
Ugh Facebook drives me crazy and I really hate it. The only reason I maintain it (if it can be called maintenance) is because people actually use it to stay up to date on stuff going on with the blog. Like you I find a status update with a link with no image has the widest reach and one that has the thumbnail has the lowest reach. I post 1 with an image and 1 without each day and I see the marked difference but statuses with images don’t go very far anyway. Ultimately I personally don’t care what’s going on with FB. I maintain it with almost clinical detachment mostly because people seem to expect it, but I think ultimately, it is still organic traffic that takes the blog further. No need to crack your head over FB me thinks 🙂
Paris B recently posted..Tried it: Didn’t like it – Products that I simply do not like
Same here. Clinical detachment as well. It doesn’t matter how many followers I have because so few of them actually see my content on Facebook. It’s bloody annoying because the figures at the end of the day don’t mean jack. I want more to see, I have to pay. I want more out of Facebook, I have to pay. Drives me bonkers. I remembered you mentioning that links with thumbnails and images with links didn’t work as well for you as just a simple text update with the link (no preview). I tried it out and lo and behold, I reach more people that way compared to images and link previews. It’s strange because for the majority of bloggers, it’s images that make a bigger difference. The formula doesn’t work for everyone.
My FB page is on a hiatus at the moment. It really is in need of a revamp, but whenever I attempt it, I get discouraged because I know that, doesn’t matter what I do or what technique recommended by this or that guru I implement, very few people will see my updates unless I pay. And frankly, I’m not sure it is worth my time. At the moment, I prefer to concentrate my efforts on Twitter and Pinterest, which bring me more traffic, and Google Plus. I don’t have many followers there yet, but posting on my page regularly seems to have improved my rank in Google a bit. I will give your tips a go when I finally decide to revive the page.
gio recently posted..Can Skin Actives Antioxidant Serum With Glutaredoxin And SOD Protect Skin From Enviromental Damage?
Yeah I know what you mean, Gio. Gurus suggest this, suggest that and I’ve tried them all. A lot of what have been suggested don’t really work for me. How are you finding Pinterest in driving traffic to your site? Does it work well for you? I have to try it out more. I very rarely pin my own content, just other people’s.
Pinterest is actually the social network that brings the most traffic to my site. I find, though, that I get more visits from content pinned by others than by myself. What I pin myself mostly gets retweeted, but doesn’t necessarily generates visits. Having a pin it hover button over every image also helped. Now I want to learn to do collages and more complicated graphic that would appeal to Pinterest users more, although I noticed that, if the content is good, the post gets pinned anyway.
gio recently posted..Product Review: Sunsilk Azione Termo-Attiva Conditioner
That is amazing. Rarely do people pin my posts so that’s something I’m working towards in creating better graphics. What’s the name of the plugin you used for hovering over images to pin?
I use the official pin it hover button. If you have a business account, you can find it in the business tools section. It’s just two lines of code to add to the footer. 🙂
gio recently posted..QOTW: What Are Your Go-To Products For Contouring?
Thanks for the plugin recommendation! 🙂 x
I have always struggled with FB, I only joined FB because I was told I needed to as a blogger. Yet almost 2 years later I am only just on 300 likers! While everyone has their theories I think Mark Zuckerberg has created a monster and his attempts to cash in are too little, too late. I don’t make money directly from my blog so I am not going to pay for promotion or likes. I have taken Paris’s approach and tried to remain detached but unfortunately my readers use FB for everything…updates, blog watching etc. I know a few bloggers who have cancelled their FB status & moved to google+ Not sure if this is the way to go but it depends on your direction.
lisa recently posted..Every Day in May: Clairey Hewitt
That’s exactly the reason I created a Facebook page for this blog too, because I was told I need to as a blogger. It works as first but when they kept changing and updating their algorithm to make more money, things got progressively worse. I reached far less people than I wanted to. The amount of likers doesn’t matter if only 10% of them are seeing your content. For 100% of your likers to see your content, pay up. That really annoys me. 🙁
even my experience is the same. if i publish images, the reach is hardly that but if i publish some random updates and tips and especially without links, they have a better reach even if i am not a regular on fb!!!
swati recently posted..Dry or Dehydrated; Moisturized or Hydrated!! {Skin Care}
Same here! Weird, right?
Oh Gawd I hate ‘wastebook’! So strong is my attitude towards it I never ever set a page up for my blog, yeah it probably hurts my stats and gives me less ‘community’ or reader interaction but I juts can’t deal!
I keep telling myself I’ll be deleting my personal Facebook page soon but I still don’t. It surely is a wastebook to me too but there are a lot more people on it than there are on Twitter and Instagram so I have to keep going with the blog’s Facebook page. I hate how Facebook screws us over time and time again with their new algorithms. Having a huge number of fans means nothing when the reach is only less than 10% unless you pay for reach. It’s all about the money.