You’ve probably heard about the Facebook News Feed changes for Pages.  Facebook announced that they are focusing more on conversations between friends and will be giving less organic reach to Facebook Pages.

I know it’s had a lot of people frustrated but we have already had a bit of a steady decline in Reach in the last couple years.

In my post, Facebook Reach Changes for Pages and How to Respond, I talked about the importance of Facebook ads and doing the things that give you more reach and interaction like Facebook Live videos.  And I think Facebook Groups are going to be more important for some businesses.

But some of these options may not be a good fit for smaller or local businesses.  For example, Facebook Groups take a lot of moderation and aren’t always practical.

What should small or local businesses do in the short term?  How should you plan your strategy in the longer term?

Short Term Strategy for Reach Changes

Don’t change a thing 🙂  We don’t really know what is going to happen.  So while these Facebook News Feed changes roll out, continue to post as you normally do.

As always focus on your best content and the types of posts that do well for you.  I outlined some good examples in my free ebook:  How to Grow Your Local Business with Social Media

I would keep things status quo for at least 2-3 weeks in terms of posting so you can assess the metrics.

Assess your Facebook Insights and Watch for Change

The two biggest places to watch are your Reach and your Post Engagement.

Go to your Insights on your Page and select Reach on the left side.  Now you can change your time frame to see how your Reach has been performing and compare it to the previous time frame with the Benchmark tool.

Now you know where your Page actually stands.  And you’ll be able to see if your reach is really declining.  Many local and small businesses do well with their organic reach on Facebook.

Another thing to so is to watch your individual posts and see which ones do better in terms of Reach and Engagement.  Switch to Engagement Rate to get a clear picture.

Focus on Targeted Facebook Ads

The good news for local businesses is how easy it is to target your Ads.  But you have to have something enticing in your Ad.  Maybe it’s a freebie or a coupon.  Or you could feature an employee or some good news about your business.

You don’t have to spend a lot to reach a significant portion of your targeted audience.  I would allow at least $50/month for Facebook ads if possible.  Facebook Ads can really amplify your content to reach your target customer.

Diversify Your Social Strategy

LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and Pinterest are all still out there.  While there aren’t as many daily users, you can get more organic reach and do well if you have a strategy.

I personally am focusing more on my YouTube channel and posting on LinkedIn.  In my assessment of traffic to my site, I saw increases from both places with just a little increase in effort.

Watch your Google Analytics to see where your traffic comes from and adjust your strategy as these changes continue to roll out.

How about you, are you seeing anything changing already?  How are you planning on adjusting in the coming months?  Share your thoughts in the comments below!