On the surface, building a Facebook presence might look easy. Just share a few thoughts about one’s company and then move on. However, making our presence felt requires time and effort, apart from the strategic adjustment, monitoring and ongoing execution. This is primarily why numerous businesses, both small and large, are turning to automation.

According to BuzzSumo, which examined more than 880 million Facebook posts by publishers and brands, there has been a decline in Facebook Pages engagement by 20 percent since the beginning of 2017. For small-business owners, these trends can seem scary. Nevertheless, there are some effective ways to combat this drop in organic reach and make your presence felt on Facebook.

Ten Ways to Build Our Presence on Facebook

1. Optimize captions and content formatting.

This is especially vital as cross-posting across Twitter or Instagram has become extremely common. Put simply, Facebook cannot be treated as a dumping ground for specific content meant for other platforms.

Make sure to craft unique captions. Do not repeat the same captions or incorporate irrelevant captions. Refrain from posting external links only and focus on certain formats that retain people on the platform. Try to include a call-to-action or questions that drive engagement and discussions.

2. Schedule posts to maintain consistency.

It comes as no surprise that several of the majorly engaged accounts on Facebook post content on a regular basis. When looking forward to growing one’s online presence, consistency is key. It makes our algorithm aware of our presence. Native tools such as Facebook Studio and scheduling apps can help queue up content to make sure it’s fresh several times a week.

3. Develop and create content adjacent to industry.

It is only fair that we would want to portray ourself as an expert in our own industry. That said, it is important not to create content that always revolves around our own business. If all we are doing is creating promotional posts, there is a high possibility that we might lose out on followers.

Appearing to be a self-centered salesman will only drive customers away. Instead, spare some time to think about the wonderful audience. Think about what would catch their attention or fulfill their requirement. Industry-adjacent valuable content can be an amazing way to stay at the top of the audience’s mind while overstaying their welcome.

4. Fix the best times to post content.

Optimizing the timing of content is not the end-all, be-all of engagement, but it definitely increases the likelihood of present posts being seen. Given the fierce competition in the market for organic reach, everything that’s done to enhance the visibility of content is an added bonus. Using scheduling tools that track and engage helps fine-tune times for publishing on the basis of when the targeted audience is at their engaged best.

5. Use third-party engagement and groups to increase visibility.

Supplementing our Facebook pages engagement activity from individual accounts or Facebook Groups is another fine way to attain viral reach. Take into consideration that all given pages and accounts are limited in terms of people who can see any given post. However, engagements received from outsiders can result in a snowball effect where content gets recommended to non-followers repeatedly.

6. Use visual content liberally. Today, visual content is everything.

Eighty-two percent of marketers consider images to be a very important part of optimizing social media content, while 52 percent state that video content leads to the best ROI.

On the other hand, all kinds of visual social networks have started rising through the ranks. For instance, Instagram has more than 800 million users on a monthly basis, while Pinterest has an impressive 100 million users.

Videos can be used for a charitable cause or to record a quick how-to. Ask followers to post fun videos of products to be used as testimonials.

7. Do not shy away from advertisements.

It is quite natural for marketers to refrain from using paid social media advertisements but paying to get oneself noticed is not a bad thing. Platforms like Instagram and Facebook have access to endless data. This makes it possible for marketers to run actionable highly targeted campaigns.

Now, it is possible to move be- yond demographic and location-based marketing and dive into the world of behavioral and internet-based targeting.

Target audiences that look alike or create an audience simply from a contact list. Check out a plethora of options available on Facebook to start a paid advertising campaign for as little as five to 10 dollars per day.

8. Attain insights into Facebook posts.

To enhance presence on Facebook, it’s advised to monitor strategy results and adjust accordingly. The Insights feature in Facebook facilitates a snapshot overview with complete tags, page likes, engagement and more. In addition to providing a sense of reach, this provides feedback on certain aspects of strategy that are working for insights on possible tweaks that may be needed.

9. Consider automation.

The term “automation” can sound detached and impersonal and does not necessarily conjure up the friendliest of ideas. However, when performed properly, automation can prove to be an absolute time-saver.

10. Hire a social media manager or virtual assistant.

We must face the fact that social networks require a certain amount of nurturing, and as a small-business owner, we cannot always devote the time that our followers deserve.

Hiring someone to manage social media platforms and engage with the audience provides the vehicle to engage them and build a following.

Developing a presence on Facebook for a small business is not an unachievable task, but it does take a certain amount of dedicated time which small business owners do not always have. Hiring a virtual assistant trained in social media management is an affordable option that can save a great deal of time.

Today, our customers are privy to many brands and products, so now is not the time to relax our marketing efforts. We want to provide the community we serve with valuable content with which they can interact and, hopefully, these tips will help do just that.