We either love it or we hate it. But make no mistake, Facebook has transformed the way we communication, consume information and do business. I think for us in the Network Marketing space, it’s an essential tool for doing business. Having said that, there is a myriad of information out there, isn’t there? It’s easy to become bogged down in the ‘do’s and don’ts of Facebook’. And what on earth is myth and what is fact? I am going to share with you my top 10 (plus a bonus tip so 11 really) ways to hack the Facebook Algorithm. Just to be clear, there isn’t one Facebook Algorithm – there are thousands that change on a monthly, weekly, daily, hourly, minute by minute basis. So no-one really knows exactly what they all are. It all comes down to trial and error at the end of the day. I have learned these hacks from a few different trainers over the years’ and I have to say, this is what works best for me. Just sayin’. You might be doing something that works brilliantly well for you and congrats. Maybe you don’t need to read any further. But if you are constantly scratching your head trying to figure out how do business smarter on Facebook – then this is for you.
- Stop focusing on likes, loves and followers on Facebook. Focus on procuring relationships. This is absolutely key. At the end of the day, no-one is going to buy your product or get started with you because of what you are posting. They will, however, if they have some sort of relationship with you. Would you rather have 1 million Instagram followers or $1Million in the bank?? Many have hundreds of thousands of Insta followers that don’t monetize any of them. But there are hundreds of thousands who have made money from a few hundred likes. Think about it.
- Be consistent. Post daily on your personal profile and on your Business Page. Now I’m not talking about posting every hour – 5 times a day is probably the absolute maximum otherwise people will unfollow you if they feel as though you are overwhelming their feed. I mean we all know people like that, right? Those Mums posting pics of every little thing Little Johnny is doing all day long. It’s cute for a while but then just becomes annoying. Follow a plan with regards to your posting. Do a couple of FB Lives a week. Post a text post daily. A lifestyle photo with text. A motivational quote (believe me, no-one gets sick of daily motivation – like ever). But make sure you are being consistent with whatever your plan is.
- Make sure your messages are consistent with your brand. If you are all things personal development, don’t post pictures everyday of your garden – it’s confusing. If you are involved in a wellness business, post stuff that is consistent with that – recipes, what’s healthy to do daily, exercise, mindfulness – you get the idea. Make sure that people get a firm idea of you and what you are about. If you are inconsistent and a bit scattered, people will unfollow you if they feel you are too hard to work out.
- Be positive at all times. NEVER post anything negative. And I mean NEVER. If you just got off the phone with your phone provider and they cut you off earlier and you were on the phone with them for 5 hours’ – don’t post about how pissed off you are on FB. NO-ONE wants to know and NO-ONE cares. We all deal with that stuff. Unless of course you are going to post something positive that came out of it. Don’t air your dirty laundry online and never, ever tag people in arguments. It’s totally unprofessional and really – I don’t want to do business with angry, whiney, irresponsible people. Period.
- Stop liking posts. Seriously if you are scanning FB several times a day and just hitting like all the time – FB are not going to do you any favours. Instead use the love, wow or laughing emojis instead. Stand out.
- Comment all the time. Be an active social media user instead of being passive. FB will reward you by making your content visible. When you comment, use emojis – again, you’ll stand out and that is what you want.
- Don’t use the same letters repeated in a sentence. For example “YASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS” or “GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO” or “WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE”. FB will flag you as a potential spammer and in some instances even remove your comment. If you are going to comment, actually use a sentence and then use 3 emojis like a rocket or fire or a target or something relevant to the post itself. When someone is celebrating something, use a wine glass emoji or a high five emoji or a dancing person emoji. Something different because you want to stand out. Remember?
- Spend more time on Messenger procuring those relationships than on Facebook itself. It’s easy to get caught up with endless scrolling and not even knowing what it is we are hoping to see. It’s a time thief. Be deliberate, be on purpose and allocate your time on FB efficiently. Create content. Post on your personal profile, on your Business Page and on other people’s Pages and Groups specific to your niche. Communicate with real people – instead of waiting for people to come to you. Because more often than not – it will never happen. You can buy likes to your FB Business Page but you can’t buy conversations and it is ONLY there you will make any money.
- Use Instagram Stories and Facebook Lives. Facebook LOVES video. And they will reward you for posting regular Lives by way of increasing the visibility of your content.
Understand the facts. Your personal profile is all about organic reach. Your Business Page is solely for running ads. Your Group is for building community. And groups are a great way to find your target market. So let’s not confuse the three – utilise then for what they are meant for. - BONUS TIP – FB ads and engagement in groups does not impact the FB algorithm AT ALL. The one and ONLY thing that does is by commenting on other’s posts, creating content and loving, wowing or laughing at people’s posts. That’s it. So the more you do that, the more visible you will be.
Did you get any value from this? I sure hope so. If you did, feel free to share and comment below letting me know how this has helped you or if you have any questions. Have fun with social media. Treat it as a business tool and stick with what works and focus your time and energy on that. The more of us Network Marketers doing the right thing, the less likely FB is to marginalize and punish Network Marketers. Don’t forget to sign up to my webinar on February 27 @ 8pm AEDST where I will go into more detail about how exactly you make money from FB. Happy posting.