We’ve discussed the importance of social media before, but today we’re going to focus on Facebook, which is still the King of All Social Media, with an estimated 900,000,000 unique monthly visitors. While all the tips in our previous post still apply, we thought we’d share some more secrets to expand your reach even further.

First of all, if you’re still one of the few businesses that don’t yet have a page, get one. Like it or not, people use Facebook to search for businesses, services and interests of all kinds. Once you have a page, here are some tips to get more likes, shares and clicks.

Consider “boosting” important posts
You may have noticed that little box below your posts that says “Boost Post.” This allows you to have your post viewed by people who may not “like” your page. You can even target the people you want to reach. For instance, you can choose the age, gender and interests of your audience. So, if your post is about how to care for someone living with Alzheimer’s, you may want to target women between the ages of 45-55 (according to the Family Caregivers Alliance, 66% of caregivers are female and the average age is 49). Your post will show up in their news feed, just as if you were one of their friends. This is a great way to build an audience and it’s relatively inexpensive (a budget of $10 can reach as many as 5,000 people – Facebook will give you an estimate of how many people you will reach).

Post things that relate to your business
People liked your page for a reason – they’re interested in what you do or sell. So your posts should have some consistency with your business. If you’re an assisted living community, topics about senior health and well-being are perfect topics for your audience and can even help broaden your brand – you’re not just a company that provides living quarters for seniors, you’re a company that is interested in creating a better life for seniors.

Post consistently, but don’t overdo it
It’s important to keep your audience engaged and to show them that you’re serious about providing information on a regular basis. But you don’t want to inundate them with posts either. Quality of posts is definitely more important than quantity. Hubspot recently reviewed Facebook data from their customers and discovered that for companies with fewer than 10,000 followers (and we’re guessing that’s most of you), the more often they posted, the fewer clicks per post they received. The bottom line? Companies that are selective about what they publish perform the best.

Vary the times you post to reach a larger audience
Many people check Facebook the same time every day – either first thing in the morning, during their lunch break or after work. To ensure you’re reaching all of your potential customers, post things at different times of the day and see what attracts the most visitors.

Reciprocity
Like the pages of companies you do business with and look for opportunities to share and like their posts, especially if they have done so for you, but also to encourage them to.  A good social media manager will recognize this and reciprocate to that both of you can reach wider audiences.

Get some expert help in running your program
IlluminAge can help you create, maintain and monitor a Facebook program. Our EngAge program flexes your marketing muscle even more to engage your clients and prospects through blog posts and emails. Contact us today to discover how you could expand your marketing reach to even more potential customers!