How to improve organic reach on your real estate Facebook page

Organic reach is not what it used to be and the complicated Facebook algorithm is not making things easier for real estate social media marketing - but there are a few things you can do to help improve your reach.

Facebook has said that the average user has access to more than 1,500 posts per day but only looks at 300. The Facebook algorithm is the thousands of factors, or signals, that Facebook uses to determine which posts should be among the 300 that gets served up in a user’s News Feed. Basically, it’s how Facebook curates an overwhelming amount of content into a manageable chunk for the individual user.

Here are a few tips to help you end up in those 300 posts for your followers:

Quality content is key

What many of Facebook’s algorithm changes really come down to is quality. Sharing quality content is essential to not only be shown in News Feed but having your content appear higher in users’ feeds.

Best practices in regards to quality:

• Share high-quality content whenever possible
• If you’re sharing links to articles or blog posts on your website, ensure that they’re quality content that readers will want to spend time with
• Aim to be informative (How to write winning content for your real estate website)
• When you share videos, aim to choose ones that will resonate with your audience (Video marketing for real estate agents)
• Don’t reuse content from ads for organic Page posts as these posts will likely receive less organic distribution

Spam-a-lot is not the answer

An extension of Facebook’s preference for quality content is its ongoing aversion to spammy content.

Best practices to avoid being spammy:

• Be particular about what you share and avoid content that doesn’t look reputable (such as content that could turn out to be a viral hoax)
• Avoid clickbait tactics, such as overly exaggerated headlines or ones that withhold key information (How to write headlines that grab their attention)
• Avoid encouraging users to take a particular action when they view a post—such as encouraging lots of clicks
• Don’t like-bait (publish posts that explicitly ask users to like, comment, or share the post)
• When looking for content to share, watch out for frequently circulated content (photos or videos that have been uploaded to Facebook over and over again) as that’s considered spammy behavior
• Avoid spammy links, such as stories that use inaccurate language or formatting to try to trick people into clicking through to a website that only contains ads or a combination of frequently circulated content and ads
• Avoid sharing overly promotional posts as posts that solely push people to buy a product, install an app, take part in a promotion or enter sweepstakes without adding any additional context—these posts will likely receive less organic distribution
• If you have a third party app, ensure that share settings are set up so that users take an explicit action to share, rather than share implicitly as explicitly shared stories are prioritized over implicitly shared ones

General advice

Post quality content. Avoid being spammy. What else? There are a few other things to pay attention to when using Facebook for your brand
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General best practices for Facebook Pages:

• Post about timely topics - is there a new restaurant in town that everyone is talking about? Post about it!
• If it makes sense for your brand, give live video a try—when a Page is broadcasting, its video is more likely to appear higher in News Feed
• When relevant, tag other Pages in your posts because they may then be seen by a new audience (users who follow the tagged Page)
• Avoid publishing pure text posts—instead focus on sharing rich media such as links, photos, and video
• Make sure your Page profile is complete (yup, that matters to how Facebook assesses your Page)

One of the best ways to stay on the Facebook algorithm’s good side is to follow best practices offered by the network itself. Facebook’s media hub offers an on-going series of posts on best practices covering topics such as clickbait and live video.

On the matter of clickbait best practices, Facebook offers the following advice:

• Share headlines that inform
• Post headlines that set appropriate expectations
• When curating content as a Page, share links that have clear, accurate headlines
• When it comes to best practices for live video, Facebook offers these suggestions:
• Tell people ahead of time when you’re going to broadcast
• Go live when you have a strong connection
• Write a compelling description before going live
• Ask your viewers to follow you and receive notifications when you go live
• Say hello to commenters by name and respond to their comments
• Broadcast for longer periods of time to reach more people
• Be creative and go live often

Now that you’ve read our tips on how to boost organic reach, take a look at your business page and see where you can edit and improve to boost your reach.

Here is help on how to setup your Facebook Business Page