Did you know that on average, only 5.2% of your Facebook audience will see your organic posts? In this episode of the Golfonomics Podcast, the team at Metolius Golf discusses why this is the case, how you can improve it, and how to supplement organic posts with boosted posts and ads.
Watch the zoom video, read our blog recap, and learn more about marketing your facility at MetoliusGolf.com
Why Don't My Followers See Everything I Post on My Facebook Page?
On average, only 5.2% of your page audience will see your organic posts. That’s about 1 out of every 20 followers! Why?
The short answer is because Facebook is a business. In fact, Facebook grosses over $80 billion in revenue, and $79 billion of that is from ad sales. To put that in perspective, the entire golf industry grosses $84 billion annually.
By not showing your content to your whole audience, Facebook has created a pay-for-play environment. They need to throttle your post distribution in order to sell their advertising services.
At the same time, they need to provide value to their customers. Organic posts with high engagement via likes, shares, comments & reactions, will be distributed more broadly. Facebook utilizes a series of algorithms to determine what content should be distributed to additional users.
How to grow reach without paying for Facebook Ads or Boosting Posts
The best path to creating additional reach without paying to play is to post content that generates high engagement. Let’s use a couple of examples by considering different types of posts:
Head Golf Pro Birthday Post versus Membership Promotion Post
Sharing information that provides insight into the club and brings a personal element will normally outperform a promotional post that does not engage users directly. It is still necessary to post your promotions, but it is as important to post content that resonates with your audience to improve your page and post engagement metrics.
Member Testimonial versus Sunday Night Dinner Special
These two posts are a little closer in engagement than the last comparison. Your audience does want to know your dinner specials, but a large portion of your audience may tune this out. Testimonials, on the other hand, are great content to share with your entire audience. They add a humanizing element that will resonate.
The long and short of it is that authentic content will be more engaging. Feature content that gives users a glimpse into your business - messages from your team or “behind the scenes” content are great examples - and don’t worry too much about curating every aspect of your post. Your content doesn’t need to be perfectly polished and clean, but it does need to be authentic.
If you can post at least two pieces of authentic content for every one piece of promotional content, you’ll be well on your way to establishing with Facebook that your content is engaging and should be shared more widely.
Intro to Facebook Advertising
Now that we’ve discussed how to get the most out of your organic posts, it’s time to discuss the real game-changer: advertising. There are two ways to compensate Facebook for wider reach - boosting your posts and using Facebook Ads.
Boosted Posts
Boosted Posts are the easiest method to use. Boosting a post is as simple as clicking a button. It’s a quick and easy method to combat ever-dwindling organic reach. There is a downside, boosting posts does not give you the full targeting, segmentation, or placement tools available in Facebook Ads Manager.
Some of the reasons you may utilize a boosted post are:
- You can reach more of your audience and attract new targets to be a part of your audience. It gives you the ability to reach users that have a higher probability of engaging with your content.
- You can create a boosted post in relatively little time. If you have an organic post already, most of the work has already been done. It all happens in one place and your boost will be running in minutes.
- You can get analytics regarding the boosted post and begin to understand the basics of Facebook Analytics in order to analyze your efforts. You can learn more about your audience through this analysis and begin to better reach out to them and get their engagement.
- You can mirror your efforts on Instagram. Instagram and Facebook are the same company, and they give you the ability to use one post or piece of content to gain visibility on two social media platforms. Sometimes posting on both platforms helps you engage with new users since the two platforms can vary from user types and their associated demographics.
Facebook Ads Manager
Facebook Ads Manager is an in-depth advertising platform built inside Facebook. It gives you cutting-edge tools for targeting, placement, delivery, segmentation, and much more. It is THE tool to use if you are looking to engage users who are not currently engaged with your page.
You can target users with wide ranges of campaign types via Facebook Ads: Brand Awareness, Reach, Application Installs, Traffic, Lead Generation, Messages, Engagement, Video Views, Conversions, Store Visits, and Catalog Sales.
In addition, it also allows you to customize your ad placements across Facebook and Instagram: Mobile News Feed, Desktop News Feed, News Feed Side Column, Messenger, Instagram, Instagram Stories, Instant Articles, and Audience Network.
One downside of Facebook Ads Manager is that it is a big platform with a steep learning curve. It takes time to learn the tool, and it is an ever-evolving landscape. Accredited users have spent months learning the platform and adopting a best-use strategy.
Three reasons why you should spend advertising dollars on Facebook
- Effectiveness. Facebook is, by a wide margin, the most efficient means to distribute your messages. On average, it costs around $10 to deliver your message to 1,000 qualified users on Facebook. Google Ads run around $30 per 1,000 impressions. A traditional print campaign in a trade publication or newspaper can easily cost $500 per 1,000 impressions. In most cases, we see Facebook campaigns running 10x the efficiency of traditional media placements.
- Trackability. Facebook generates automatic insights on your campaigns, so you know exactly how many users see, interact and engage with your content. Getting similar metrics from print and media campaigns is impossible.
- Ease-of-Use. You are already using Facebook, so a simple boosted post will take no more than 1 second of your time. Even if you decide to use Ads Manager, it will be easier to get going than any other media type. There are also hundreds of qualified agencies (like Metolius!) that can lend a hand if you need it.
How to get started
You may be scratching your head now and that is okay. The team at Metolius is comprised of tenured experts on the utilization of Facebook Ads Manager. We spend a great deal of time making sure that we understand the current capabilities in order to deliver our clients powerful promotions that drive revenue and engagement.
But you don’t have to be a seasoned marketer or certified Ad Manager to get started. Here are a few tips from our team to get you headed in the right direction.
Start small with boosted posts first and see how it goes.
Evaluate your current marketing spend. How much do you spend on print advertising? Do you receive good ROI for that spend? Pause those efforts and test a series of Facebook Ads.
Ask your audience to engage more with your posts! Ask a question of your audience. Tell a story. Highlight a member or guest.
Think about how your audience and what content they like. What appeals to them? Make sure you make them feel connected to your property, your employees, and your business objectives.