For the longest time, Facebook was the best way to promote your business. All you had to do is connect to your loyal followers and start publishing posts. However, all of this changed in 2014 as Facebook tried to make the platform more user-oriented. Instead of business posts, they wanted to put user posts in the limelight.

As a result, many businesses suffered; some of them lost the majority of their social media traffic overnight.

While this is very concerning, there are some ways to reduce the impact of this algorithmic change. Keep in mind; we will never be able to go back to the way things were. Still, with some proper management, you are able to get valuable free traffic from Facebook even today.

Here are seven tips that will help you do it!

Focus on engagement

Given that Facebook has changed so much, you need to be careful with your posts. Instead of sharing numerous articles each day, make sure to be selective with your efforts.

Try to maximize engagement with each post. Even with all that has happened, Facebook posts can still go viral and get the necessary traffic. However, this will never happen if you’re overwhelming your audience with content and you need to be consistent. So, make sure to share only things that are worth people’s attention and hope they will share it along by themselves.

Encourage sharing

With all this being said, it is easy to conclude that sharing is something that needs to be prioritized. You need to be proactive in persuading your fans to share content. You can’t simply expect them to share everything you post so make sure to remind them regularly. Simple message “Please share and like” will go a long way in promoting your posts and increasing their organic visibility.

Share other people’s content

Based on everything that has been said, it is all about finding ways to get more engagement. One of the traditional methods for doing that is by promoting other people’s and companies’ content.

Now, this doesn’t have a direct impact on your traffic or particular posts. Instead, it is a strategy that helps you build relationships with other individuals who have a loyal fan base. Sooner than later, someone will also start sharing your posts and you will get the engagement that you so richly deserve.

Notification settings

Your biggest fans probably want to get as many notifications as possible. So, teach them how to do it! If you go to the homepage of a company, you will see a tab “Following”. If fans click on it, a dropdown menu will appear. Under “In your news feed”, they can click on “See first”. This will ensure that your posts are prioritized. Easy, yet super powerful!

Focus on your own, evergreen content

Today, it is much better to create several high-quality posts than to create numerous forgettable ones. Evergreen content, in particular, shows the most promise as people can always go back to these topics.

Furthermore, when posting on Facebook, make sure to share evergreen content from your own blog; articles and videos that have a long shelf life. By giving them initial traction, they will gradually flourish and will be able to get lots of traffic for your website over time.

Utilize Facebook Live

Facebook Live is one of the relatively new features of the most popular social network. It allows you to talk about various topics in real-time. This is excellent for companies who want to get in direct touch with their fans and potential customers. From this setting, you can talk about certain things and afterward, direct viewers to your posts so they can continue reading (or watching) as well as engaging with your articles and videos.

Direct people to “Pages”

When you go to Facebook News Feed, there will be a sidebar to the left. You can find numerous others there such as “Pages”. By clicking on it, users will be sent to all the pages that they previously liked. Make sure that your loyal fans know about this.

Even though companies relying on free social media traffic have taken a big hit, there are still ways to get lots of organic visits from Facebook. Albeit you will have to invest more time and effort, it will definitely be worth it.

About the Author: Ellan Dineen is the Marketing Associate at Design Wizard. When she’s not hard at work in the Marketing Department, Ellan can be found en route to foreign lands with a book in her hand and a podcast in her ear. With a Master’s in English and Diploma in Social Media Marketing, she knows the importance of staying up-to-date with the industry’s latest trends and insights and is keen to pass these tips on to her readers.