13 Tips to Beat the Facebook Algorithm (and get your posts seen!)

If you have your business on Facebook, no doubt you have noticed that it can be tricky to get people to actually see your posts! I compiled a list of my top 13 tips to beat the Facebook algorithm, just so you can get your posts in front of more eyes.

Facebook’s algorithm can get pretty limiting to businesses, but NEVER FEAR – there are some ways to work around it and get your posts in front of your people.

What IS the Facebook Algorithm?

The Algorithm is how Facebook limits and controls WHAT posts you see in your Facebook newsfeed, and also what ORDER those posts are placed in the newsfeed.

At any given time, Facebook has over 1500 options for what they could be showing you. The algorithm narrows it down to the top 200 or so, and then ranks them in order – all based on what YOU will be most interested in.

As a user – for the most part – we can all appreciate that list being narrowed down!

However, as a business trying to get your posts in front of more eyes, it can get difficult.

Especially since Facebook announced in 2018 that it was drastically cutting back on spammy posts going into the newsfeed, and really prioritizing posts from family and friends.

After this announcement, many business freaked out, considering this the END of reach on Facebook. The truth is, now that the dust has settled since that announcement – we haven’t seen the end of organic reach. Facebook has continued to be a great place to market your business, simply because of HOW MANY people are active daily users there!

I think we can all agree that none of us want our business’s Facebook posts to appear “spammy” anyway! So, how do we achieve that?

Our goal on Facebook should be to create more genuine interactions with our audience & posting content that people actually WANT to comment on or share.

Want to know a simple way to get some more comments on your posts? Ask great questions! Right now, you can get these 100 questions complete with both done-for-you graphics and also the templates to customize as you’d like. Head here to check them out.

Here are 13 tips to get past the Facebook algorithm and get your posts seen:

Start a conversation

Each time you post, think about using your wording to encourage conversation. It could be by asking a question, giving thoughts that require a response, or something similar.

One word of caution: In general, do not ask outright for people to Like, Comment, or Share. These are tactics that have worked in the past on Facebook, but now Facebook may see these type of requests as spam.

Though there sometimes will be a time and a place for these requests, try to think of different ways to achieve that same goal.

The trick is to encourage conversation on your post without being slimy or begging.

Need some ideas to get the conversation started? Download 100 Questions to get the Conversation Started here.

One of my favorite explanations of this is in Gary Vaynerchuk’s book, “Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook.” DEFINITELY get this book and see how it changes your Social Media Marketing!

Use Video in your posts.

There are a few reasons why video will get more reach on your Facebook page.

Facebook simply gives video more reach than other types of posts. Just by putting up a video instead of a photo, your post will automatically get in front of more people. Facebook has determined that people like video and interact with it more readily, so it gets into more people’s newsfeeds.

People actually DO seem to like video and they tend to watch it more than just photos.

The KING of video options is Facebook LIVE. Not only is it catchy video that will get people’s attention, but Facebook LOVES its own creation – Facebook Live. Your post may get up to 6x more reach if it is a live video. Another handy thing is that Facebook notifies followers when you go live, which can catch you even more viewers.

Make each of your posts unique.

As you have been posting on your business’s page for a while, it’s a great idea to re-use or re-purpose content. After all, if you spent a lot of time on that video, it should get more than one post, right?

The trick is to not just put up the exact same post several times. Change it up in some way. The idea is that it’s the same “content” or idea, just posted in a fresh new way.

If you are putting up the same video, change the text at the top of the post.

If you are linking to to relevant article, next time post a quote from that article as a graphic.

Make use of Facebook Groups.

If it makes sense for your business, you could start a Facebook Group. (or 2 or 3!)

While a regular Facebook page may reach as little as 2% of their followers on a given post, Facebook groups are not limited in the same way.

If you think about it, people have to “opt-in” to a Facebook group, which means that they have already indicated that they are interested in your content and ready to engage with you.

They will get many more opportunities to do just that in a Facebook group.

Think about your brand and how you could make use of a Facebook group with your followers.

Get your employees involved.

Think of how you can encourage your team to comment on and share content from your business’s page.

Remember, people are WAY more likely to see posts that personal friends have interacted with than they are posts from a business. So if your employees are sharing your posts, they will get MUCH more visibility.

Also, statistically people are 16x more likely to read a post from a friend than from a brand.

So not only will your post get into more people’s newsfeeds, but people will be more likely to actually read your post!

See if you can brainstorm some ways to get your employees involved. At the very least, YOU can be sharing your business’s content now and then!

Fewer links in your posts.

Simply put, Facebook wants to keep people within Facebook. When you post a link to a page, it takes people OUT of Facebook.

Your post will get far less reach, simply because Facebook wants to keep people within its own platform.

But, sometimes links are necessary! Just make sure to have them mixed in among other great content that people are engaging with, and not just a steady rotation of link posts.

Post great visuals

Posts with a GREAT photo or video get 87% more engagement than posts with text alone. People are drawn to visual content!

Make sure that you are using eye-catching visuals with each post that you put up.

As with everything on social media, TEST this and see what works the best for your audience. Put up different forms of content in posts and see what YOUR audience responds to best.

Want to know my very favorite place to get compelling photos? Check out Haute Stock – “Stylish Stock Photos that Get You Noticed Online.”

Tag others in your posts.

When a person or business is tagged, that business’s Facebook audience may now also see the post, even if they don’t follow your brand.

Let me explain.

If you posted about a great deal you found at Whole Foods, your audience may see your post. Now, if you tagged Whole Foods (by typing @Whole Foods, and then selecting from the options that pop up), your post may now be seen by YOUR audience, and ALSO Whole Foods’ audience!

When it makes sense, definitely tag other business, brands, etc. and you will increase the reach on those posts.

Narrow down the audience for specific posts.

When you post on your page, you can select some targeting options. This means that the post will be put ONLY in front of the type of people that you have targeted. (Even if they like your page, if they don’t meet those criteria, they won’t get the post in their newsfeed.)

Why would you do this?

Because it gets certain posts in front of people who will likely be interested in those posts, and would engage with you there.

For example, say you run a business that has multiple locations. You are going to have an event at one certain location. You could post about that event, and target people who live in the area of that particular location.

This way, people in your audience who live in another state aren’t even being served your post. They wouldn’t have been likely to be interested in it anyway, so why clutter their feed?

Those posts that are served ONLY to people who would be interested will likely have a higher level of engagement. Once the Facebook algorithm sees that level of engagement on your page, you may start getting more reach on your other posts too!

I would try this advice on posts where it makes sense, and see what happens!

Post with great timing.

In general, Facebook posts get the most attention right after they go live. Of course, there are always the viral posts that can be active for much longer. But, your post will likely make its biggest splash in the couple of hours following when you post.

And so, timing it key.

Here are the times that are generally the sweet spot for Facebook engagement right now:

Wednesday between 11 am-3 pm
Thursday at 2 pm and 4 pm
Friday between 10 am – 3 pm

As with most things in social media, test different times with YOUR audience and see what seems to get the most interaction.

Make use of your audience’s content.

You could host photo contests where you encourage your audience to post and tag you. This allows your business to be noticed among your audiences personal friends.

Also, you could always just repost someone’s photos they took at your business or in connection with your brand. As long as you tag them (and have their permission if needed!) you will get some potentially new eyes on your posts.

Pay for Ads

Of course, a lot of Facebook now is “Pay to Play.” And honestly, there’s a HUGE benefit to spending your advertising dollars with Facebook!

With all of the targeting options available so that you get your ad in front of the EXACT people that will like it – it’s a no-brainer.

Think about it this way – in the era where only traditional advertising was available, you had to spend a bunch of money to place your ad in a magazine (or similar). It then went out, and you had NO IDEA what people thought of it or whether it was effective. Your only feedback was in the end, whether people purchased from your business.

Now, with Facebook Ads you get to spend much less money, and can even spread the funds across several ads that you are trying out. You can even send different ads to different audiences of people.

And then, you are getting real-time feedback. You know VERY quickly whether ads are working or not, and you have the freedom to turn off the ones that are not.

This is a great place to put ad dollars! And once you pair your budget here with some great tactics to increase your organic reach, you’ll be in a good place.

Engage with your Facebook audience.

Last, but certainly not least, you should be engaging with your Facebook audience! When they comment, you comment back. When they have a question, you answer. When they leave a review, you respond in some way.

When there is interaction on your page, your posts will get more reach.

And also, your Facebook audience will comment and respond to you, knowing that you are there to comment back.

One of my favorite explanations of how to do this REALLY well is in “Likeable Social Media.” Definitely give this book a read!

If you haven’t been implementing many of these tips, I recommend you pick 1-2 to start focusing on. Once they are becoming part of your routine, and you’re ready to take on more, come back to this list and implement the next 2.

Before long, you will have a Facebook Page that is sailing right by the limitations of the algorithm!