Once upon a time, knowing how to get more engagement on your Facebook page was just a case of writing a post and ta da! Facebook would do the rest by showing that post to EVERYONE who liked your page.  Your likes grew like wildfire, your page was full of chat and you could promote your stuff for free.... aaah, halcyon days...

Then those pesky folks at Facebook decided to make life a bit trickier for us business owners and so they reduced the reach of your page posts.  Instead of everyone seeing them, only a few people did and only if those people seemed to like your content (by you know 'liking' your content) did Facebook show it to more of them.

Now, it's never been harder to create genuine engagement and growth on your page - UNLESS you're willing to pay for it. That's a perfectly reasonable strategy if you have the budget and expertise for it.  However, if you're just starting out with your business, then chances are that you have neither of those things.

SO my friends, let's talk about going organic.  Sometimes it feels like that's a bit of a dirty word (and I don't just mean because of the gardening implications..haha).  'Organic' just means slow and hard work doesn't it?

Well yes.  Honestly, that's pretty much exactly what it equates to.  The thing is, paying for Facebook reach isn't the quick fix that so many people seem to think it is.  Facebook ads and boosts aren't magic beans.  You can't just plant them on your page willy-nilly and suddenly expect to see huge growth.

There's skill and strategy involved - and a lot of patience and testing too. Honestly, you could go with ads right now, but my guess is, you'll just be throwing your beans (and your money) away.

The good news is, despite the current popular claim online that getting reach and engagement on your Facebook page isn't possible without paying for it, it really is.  Yes, even with the latest algorithm changes.

Want to know how? Read on and I'll give you the simple, sensible strategies you can use to start increasing the engagement on your Facebook business page...

As with everything in business, Rome wasn't built in a day.  You aren't going to suddenly have 1000's of likes and comments because you've added a few posts to your page. You'll often feel like you're a crazy person, talking to yourself - but keep going and they'll come.

If you can continue to show up, day in and day out, even when it feels like no one is listening, your engagement will grow, I promise!  

PS. If creating consistent content for your social media has become a complete time-suck for you then you're in luck! I've written a post to show you how you can re-purpose your blog content and save a ton of time.

Different audiences will respond to different things, so vary your content and see what works best for your ideal clients.  

Try humour, controversy, top tips, questions and whatever else takes your fancy.  Then check back and see what gets the best reaction.  This is a great way to get a feel for the types of posts your audience loves - so you can do more of them.

For you it might be cute cat pics, inspirational quotes and personal stories.  But you won't know unless you try lots of things and test what works.

Oh, and don't be like me with my kids' food.  

And by that, I mean, if you find your audience loves sausages, please don't give them NOTHING BUT SAUSAGES for ever and ever. They'll soon completely go off them.  Believe me. Stupid kids....

BTW, if you want some inspiration then I've created a great little cheat sheet for you. It's full of ideas for posts you can try, plus a handy social media planner so you can get super organised.

At the danger of over-stuffing this post with clichés, if you don't ask, you don't get.  

Did you know that there's a natty little functionality on your Facebook page that allows you to click to see who has liked your posts (or 'reacted to them in any way) and then invite them to like your page if they haven't already?

Well there is - and you should definitely make use of it.

As a side note, one thing I absolutely WOULDN'T do is to send people friend requests just so that you can immediately invite them to like your page.  I don't know about you, but I find that a bit of a turn off.  I like to be wooed....

It's different when someone has reacted to a post already though because they've shown that they're interested in your content.  I mean, I might hesitate if their reaction was the angry face... up to you though!

The key thing to remember about the Facebook algorithm is that they want to fill people's feeds with things that they are going to enjoy and find interesting.  Seems fair enough right?

How do Facebook know what people are enjoying and finding interesting?

Because we tell them by hitting the like button, by clicking and by commenting.

It's that simple! If a post is getting likes and comments, Facebook will show it to more people.

So what can you do to help this along? 

If someone comments on one of your posts, then make sure you reply and that you also react to their comment in some way. Even better, reply with a question to encourage yet more engagement!  By doing this, you'll soon see the interactions build up, and in turn, the reach of your post.

If you want to stay ahead of the game then you need to know and understand the Facebook algorithm (at least as well as you can - it's pretty mysterious!)

There are regular updates and what works one day, may not necessarily work the next.

For the very latest news on all things Facebook newsfeed, check out their blog.  It's full of great information on how they prioritise their content and what you can do to ensure your own posts get in front of as many eyes as possible.

I'm sorry - I thought you might be about to click away without downloading my Social Media Cheat Sheet and Planner... but you wouldn't do that, right?

Phew! Here you go then - just pop your details below and you're all set.