By now, it’s likely you’re aware of the changes Facebook is making to its News Feed algorithm. It’s also likely you’ll understand the potential issues it poses to your social media marketing activities.
If you’re not aware of what’s taking place, now is definitely the time to scratch up. On 11th January, Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook would be switching its focus from businesses to people, placing them at the centre of everything Facebook does.
This is no doubt going to benefit social Facebook users, but it poses a number of problems to those using the service for business marketing purposes, as personal content will have an even higher News Feed priority than it already does. That means it’s going to be trickier than ever before to get your content seen by the right people. In fact, once these changes take place, even the best of your content will only organically reach around 1% of your audience.
It’s understandable that this has huge implications for real estate agencies’ digital marketing strategies. So, what can you do to combat them and stay ahead of the curve? Read on to find out.
1) Focus on High-Quality, Engaging Content
If organic reach is an important part of your marketing strategy, you need to focus on creating high-quality content – now more than ever before.
You’re not communicating with online traffic – you’re communicating with real people. You need to learn to create content that they’ll want to consume – content that’s helpful and entertaining.
Take a look at your Facebook Insights and find out which types of posts have performed best in the past, as this is a strong indicator of what will work well in the future. Axe the post types that haven’t done well, as these won’t help you in the future.
2) Study Your Ad Audiences
Realistically, if you want to get your content seen by the masses, you’re going to have to get used to using Facebook’s advertising platform. Instead of simply scrolling down your real estate business page and clicking ‘Boost’, you’re going to need to look into the background of who you’re targeting and who is engaging most with your content.
Facebook don’t just reward content that gets a lot of engagement – they also penalise content that doesn’t get a lot of engagement. This means that if your boosted content isn’t achieving the desired engagement results, you’ll be less likely to get through to your target audience in the future. As a result, it’s best to review your organic and paid post performance on a regular basis to learn from the results.
3) Use Live Video Wherever Possible
Over the past year, Facebook has developed a firm foothold in the live video broadcasting space and they’re continuing to expand their presence. As a result, Facebook is expected to reward any businesses that use live video by increasing their reach.
However, be wary of what you use live video for. Make it work for your audience. For example, instead of adding a weekly blog post, consider doing a round-up of your content, as well as local real estate market changes, in a live video broadcast.