Facebook Changed the Rules of the Game.

Once upon a time, when people “liked” your Facebook business page, they would see all the things you posted. That worked out well when there weren’t as many Facebook pages out there as there are today. But once there got to be such an enormous amount of Facebook pages, Facebook could no longer allow every post that was broadcast to come through our feeds.

All the posts from so many different pages and friends overwhelmed people, so Facebook had to limit the amount of posts that come through our feeds. As a result, very little of what you post on your business page is actually shown to users. In fact, toward the end of 2017, Mark Zuckerberg decided that he wanted to limit the posts that come through our timelines to only meaningful conversations, making it very difficult for businesses to get their content to be seen.

How to Get People to See Your Facebook Posts (For Free)

• Only post engaging, interesting content. No more auto-posts! Quality rules now! Facebook shows your content to those that are regularly interacting with your page. A lot of times as businesses, you’ll post something and it reaches the same amount of people each and every time. Those are the ones Facebook has identified as wanting to see your content because of the way they have signaled Facebook that they like your content (hint: it'snot by "liking" it!) Of course, the goal is to have your content seen by as many people as possible. If Facebook sees that your fans are not commenting and interacting with your page regularly, it probably won't put your content into the news feeds of those people.
• Create the kind of content that people want to have a conversation about. If your content is only encouraging a like or a share, it might reach a few extra people but not many. Likes and shares are not the signals that Facebook is conditioned to look for now. Facebook’s algorithm is no longer programmed to consider likes and shares as meaningful interactions. Facebook is looking for comments on your posts that are ideally more than four words long, but really any comment is better than no comment.
• Don't directly ask for comments. Although it's acceptable to post questions and ask for request answers, Facebook does not want you to come right out and ask for a comment, like, or share. That's called engagement baiting and will affect your content negatively.

The Only Way to Have a Friend Is to Be One.

Driving engagement on a Facebook page is a lot like making friends in real life. Ask questions to get to know your followers. Share behind-the-scenes photos of your business and your life so that they can get to know you, too. Invite them to share their opinions about your store’s new decor. Make them laugh. Most importantly, when your followers do start commenting and engaging, don’t forget to respond to their comments!

All lasting business is built on friendship.

Alfred A. Montapert