What DIY musicians can do about Facebook’s latest update
Facebook recently admitted that the Organic Reach of Facebook pages (or the number of unique people who see your content on your page or on their own News Feed) is declining and will continue to do so over time.
According to Ignite Social Media, the reach of a Facebook brand page is as low as 3%. That means that brands (bands included) are only reaching 3 out of 100 fans every time they post content. Much of this has to do with changes in the Facebook algorithms. These new changes will make it increasingly difficult for DIY artists to connect with their fans on Facebook for free, thus encouraging paid advertising options.
But for many artists, Facebook advertising would either be too expensive, or the ROI (return-on-investment) would be too difficult to measure. So what can you do to leverage this platform without paying for it?
Here are three cost-free things that artists can still do to maximize their presence on Facebook:
- Produce engaging content
This tip may seem the most obvious, but it’s arguably the most important too. Creating content that engages people keeps you on their News Feeds more often. Facebook encourages social activity and rewards pages that people engage with, therefore it’s important to consistently create content that people want to see.
You can test different factors of your posts in order to see what is most effective. Some options for this include:
- A/B testing headlines
- monitoring the “clickability” of certain types of images
- using different words to test which ones draw the most attention
- Better timing
In order to maximize each post, it’s important to know when most of your fans are online. Remember that News Feeds are sequential for the most part. The most recent content falls at the top (with some exceptions, of course). Facebook provides you with insights as to when your fans see content within their News Feed. You can find this information in the “When Your Fans Are Online” part of the Posts section under the Insights tab. The graph will tell you the days and hours that your fans view content, and can give you an idea of the best times to schedule your posts to get the highest engagement.
- Utilize Story Bump
Story bumping is an update Facebook made to the News Feed that allows old content to be inserted near the top of the News Feed if people are still interacting with it. You can do this by replying to comments that people have posted in the past, or link back to an older post in a new post. In order to utilize this, be sure that you’re creating content that stimulates conversation so that people will want to comment. Encourage your fans to interact by asking their opinion on a song, or their thoughts on one of your new videos.
While you’re focused on maximizing your Facebook presence, remember these two important details:
Platform diversity
Facebook isn’t the only marketing platform available to artists. Twitter, Instagram, Vine, and even Google+ are valuable platforms that you could utilize to build your online presence. Also don’t forget about email. It’s one of the most effective tools that a musician can use to reach fans. Because of this, it’s a good idea to get all of your Facebook fans onto your email list. By diversifying, you’ll still sustain contact even when a social network makes a change that may not be best for the marketing of your music.
More effective measuring
Getting good data is essential in marketing your music. It’s the only way to know where your time and money is best spent. There are plenty of free tools that allow you to get the data you need so that you can make informed decisions on what you are posting and how you ar posting on Facebook. Some important things to measure include:
- fan engagement ( by looking at Facebook Insights)
- traffic from Facebook to your website (by looking in Google Analytics)
- purchases (by setting up tracking codes)
- and finally, tracking email sign-ups with your email provider
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Billy Bones, a music marketing expert who works with record labels in improving their marketing strategies. He also runs BBE Booking Agency, a music booking agency that works with event planners in talent acquisition and event production.