I'm guessing that, since you're reading this, you are frustrated with the reach of your Facebook posts. Well, we all are! But it's the nature of the beast and something we all have to accept. And, if you've read any of my posts, you know I'm not one for gaming the system or promoting silly tricks and gimmicks to trick the algorithm.

And, chances are, by the time you read this post, one of these tips will be counteracted by the Facebook algorithm anyways.

But, I am constantly testing Facebook posting techniques and reading what others recommend. I manage a few Facebook pages and frequently try various things on each. If it works on one, I try it on the others to see if it's an anomaly or a good tactic. Lately I've found a few methods to be more helpful in boosting Facebook reach on my posts. So, I am sharing them with you here. But please don't take these as concrete tips. In fact, sometimes these tips don't help me at all. Always experiment with your own posts and content to find what works best for you.

Post Off the Hour

This is a tip that I read a while ago and I've tried it out multiple times. The logic behind this method is that most people post on the hour or half hour (ie. 7:00 am or 2:30 pm). Therefore, there is more content being pushed out at those times, lessening the chance of your content being seen.

Therefore, if you post at an odd time, like 7:10 am or 2:37 pm, you may avoid some of those saturated posting times and increase your post's chances of being seen.

Of course, there's a lot more that goes into the algorithm than just your posting time so this "logic" may be completely invalidated.

However, I have tried this tactic numerous times, mostly with good results. So, I will continue to post at odd times.

Post Less Frequently

I know this sounds counter-intuitive and goes against what a lot of experts preach. However, I have reduced my posting schedule on Facebook to an average of one post a day, sometimes even less.

This works for two reasons. One, it ensures I only put out the BEST content to my audience which means they are more likely to find it valuable, engage with it, and therefore the Facebook algorithm deems it worth showing to more people. Secondly, since I'm pushing out less content, Facebook isn't having to sort as much of my content, and therefore shows these limited posts to more people (at least, that's what I'm rationalizing).

Now, here's the thing. This will generally increase the average post reach for each individual post. BUT, you have to think about the math on this. Let's say you post once a day and reach an average of 1000 people per post. But, if you post 3 times a day and those posts average a reach of 400 people per post, the average reach per post is less, but you are potentially reaching more than 1000 people per day. So, you have to decide which is more valuable to you.

Use Positive Words

In general, Facebook wants to provide positive content to their users, so the algorithm will likely pull more positive items into your audience's feeds.

I have found that using positive words like "excited" or "loving this" or "awesome" or "wow" and other terms and phrases like this increase my average post reach.

Take some time when you craft your Facebook post captions to ensure that you are delivering a valuable and positive message. Even if it doesn't boost your post reach directly, chances are it will resonate more with your audience and they'll be more engaged anyways.

Use Media in Your Posts

We know it's all about visual marketing - photos or videos. But Facebook really seems to be pushing this. Every time I've posted a text only update, the reach on those posts suck. As compared with posts that have a photo, a link, or a video.

So, keep finding ways to include those visual components in your post updates.

@ Mention Other Pages

If you are mentioning a product or resource or crediting someone in your post captions, use the @ symbol followed by their page name to properly mention them in the post. Facebook will allow you to select their page name from a drop down menu.

Doing this links your post to other Facebook pages and Facebook likes to promote Facebook. Therefore, you will often find that these posts get more reach.

Share Directly From Instagram

You know I love me a good Instagram tip 😉 But, Facebook owns Instagram so they like to promote this content. Instead of sharing an Instagram image to Facebook as an upload, share the image directly from Instagram. This way the post even says "Instagram" next to the date stamp on mobile.

To do this, log into your Instagram account, go to the 3-dot button at the top of your profile, scroll down to "Linked Accounts" and then select "Facebook". From the list of options (your Timeline will be defaulted), choose the page you manage that you want to post to. Now you can go to your Instagram post, select the 3-dot button under the images and choose "Share". Edit the post caption and remove any hashtags, choose Facebook as the platform to share to and approve or tap the arrow/checkmark.

Of course, you only want to do this on occasion! You shouldn't be sharing every Instagram post to Facebook 😉

And there you have my sneaky tips to boost your Facebook reach. Do you have any tactics that you've used with success? Let us know in the comments!