It’s not 2014.

Facebook is not your golden egg-laying goose anymore.

The days when you published a post on Facebook and it instantly reached your audience are behind us. Nowadays, showing up in people’s Facebook feed is no walk in the park. The fight for organic reach has become quite intense, thanks to algorithm updates that Facebook has rolled out in recent years.

But does that mean you should stop using Facebook to market your business? Far from it.

With around 2.93 billion monthly active users, Facebook is a great platform where businesses can build and engage with their audience. Despite the fact that the growth of Facebook has plateaued in many countries, it continues to be the most popular social media platform among older adults (30+years) across the world.

As a small business owner, you have no control over the Facebook algorithm. However, what you can do is tweak your SEO strategy to get the most out of your Facebook Business Page. Here’s what you need to do:

1. Get the basics right

There are some wonderful ways to improve Facebook SEO in 2022, but you must take care of the basics first. In the ‘Page Info’ section, make sure that you provide all business details such as contact info, opening hours etc. It’s a great way to make your page more discoverable in ‘near me’ search queries.

Choose the name of your Facebook Page carefully. It should make your business recognizable and must have an easy recall value. In the About Section, write a powerful introduction that accurately represents your brand. It will go a long way when it comes to making your page look legitimate and credible. Get a vanity URL, if you haven’t yet. A vanity URL is just like your custom domain name.

Most importantly, identify SEO keywords and make sure that you use them throughout the content of your Facebook Page. You can include a keyword or two in the page name too. However, avoid keyword stuffing in the page name as that may make your page look like spam.

2. Post the right content

Once you’ve taken care of the basics, shift your focus to the content you’re posting. Publishing random posts just about anything and everything is not going to cut it anymore. Facebook now prioritizes posts that encourage meaningful interactions. For that to happen, you need to publish the most relevant content which is tailored to the interests of your followers. So, the first step is to understand what your audience wants to see and create content that appeals to them.
In order to increase the lifespan of your post, try to publish content that is timeless and evergreen. This type of content stays fresh and relevant long after it is first published. How-to posts, listicles, tips, memes, open-ended questions, videos, Did-you-know posts, and product reviews are some examples of evergreen content.

From time to time, analyze the content that you’re posting and find out what’s working and what’s not. Needless to say, you should be publishing the kind of posts that are driving engagement and reactions more often.

3. Make the most of facebook groups

Facebook groups are as relevant as ever. One of the best ways to increase your organic reach on Facebook in 2022 is to engage in Facebook groups. You must identify the most relevant Facebook groups in your industry and participate in them regularly. It is very likely that some of the users from these groups will visit your page and start following it. Also, it will increase brand visibility and help you put your content in front of a new audience.
Also, you can create a new group of your own. It will help you build and nurture a community of your fans and customers. While it may take some time and effort, the result will be highly rewarding. From live Q&As to coaching videos, there is no limit to the things that you can do in your groups.

4. Stories, reels and live videos

Posting simple text with images is not enough. If you really want to engage your audience, you must make the best use of Facebook stories, reels and live videos. Stories are a great way to win the trust of your audience by creating original, unscripted content. It’s hard for the users to ignore stories as they are displayed prominently at the top of the Facebook app. Reels, on the other hand, cater to the growing penchant for short, digestible content among social media users.
Publishing quality video content on social media has become more of a necessity for businesses. Apart from regular videos, you can go live on Facebook. Live videos generate more engagement than regular videos as they allow you to interact with your audience in real-time.

5. Frequency on facebook

The frequency of your posts can have an impact on your organic reach. The question now arises is – how often should you post on Facebook? It is not an easy question to answer. While big businesses can post several times a day, 1-3 posts per day work best for most small businesses. In fact, publishing too many posts in a day can lead to a decline in engagement. While you can always use ads to reach your target audience, Facebook organic reach is something that you should not give up on yet. Despite all the algorithm updates, there is a lot that you can do to increase the organic reach of your Facebook posts.