It seems like everywhere I turn these days, I see lots of blog posts, webinars, facebook posts, tweets, and other online content about how to increase your Facebook Reach. Most of them are whining about Facebook’s recent changes and how it’s killing their Facebook Page engagement.  While this may be true, it’s also not just about how Facebook handles things.

First let’s start with some basic truths about Facebook. Facebook will always change. Facebook will forever be trying to balance the ease of connection for it’s users with it’s business model. It is not an easy balancing act. You can’t have all of one and none of the other, or one of the two parties will run away screaming. We saw it happen with Myspace when they started making drastic changes to their interface and drove everyone away. Hopefully it will not happen with Facebook. Only time will tell. Until then, if you have a Facebook Page, you need to understand the facebook reach issue and how it may (or may not) affect how you use Facebook for your business.

Here’s the skinny. Recently Facebook made some changes to it’s Edgerank Algorithm that puts more of your “friend’s” posts in your newsfeed and less “pages” posts. This could be a big blow to your Facebook Page, or it could turn out to boost your engagement even more. If your content is already getting a lot of likes and comments, it may get even more, just by the fact that less is now showing in the newsfeed (on average) which will make a comment on your Facebook Page more visible. If you haven’t been getting a lot of likes and comments, then it could decrease that amount even more, for the same reason.

So what makes one page stand out from another? How can you ensure that your Facebook Page is getting the “most” engagement out of it’s posts? The first thing you need to do is avoid doing what others have done. Read below.

Don’t Pay Attention to “How You Can Keep Getting My Updates” Posts

As I said before, I’ve seen a lot of posts lately about Facebook reach. One of the most annoying posts are those posted by page owners on Facebook. It’s based on a rumor that has been circulating around Facebook lately. There are many different versions of this, but basically it says that if you want to keep receiving posts from my page you need to do “x”. X can range from anything like “add me to your interests lists” to clicking on “get notifications” from my page. While these things will work (to a point) they may cause more harm than good. If someone suddenly starts getting notifications about everything you do on your page, they might see this as spam (even if they allowed it) and unlike you or hide you from their newsfeed. The reason some users might see this is spam is that Facebook’s features are not easily understood. This is mostly the fault of Facebook for not providing some form of update to their users when they change these features. How many times have you logged into Facebook and noticed a change and the lack of any real explanation?

Also, posting “get more updates by doing x” type posts is the equivalent to “begging for likes”. Something I caution businesses against. You should be more concerned with how you can use Facebook for your business to create the kind of posts that get you real likes and comments rather than begging for that attention. Wouldn’t you rather have people like your content for real?

So, How Do I Get More People to Like and Comment on My Content?

This is going to sound trite, but you need to post great content. Yes, I know, you’ve read it before. But with content on the internet growing everyday (and even more businesses using Facebook), it has never been more true. You need to make great content, so it will stand out against all the other content. Let’s step back for a minute, though, and talk about what “great content” really is.

There must be some special formula right? Some way to create great content that everyone will love and always want to share with their friends and family? Uh…that’d be a no.

Unfortunately one person’s “great content” is another person’s “why in the world did they post that”. There is no real step-by-step plan that you can use. And that’s a good thing. If everyone used the same plan, everyone’s content would be the same. If everyone’s content was the same, it would very boring, very fast.

If you want use Facebook for your business, effectively, then you simply have to make great content that stands out. So is there anything you can do to make your content stand out and be seen?

Be true to yourself and your philosophy

Another cliché, I know, but it’s true. Every company is different, because they are built by different people and on different principals. You need to harness what makes your company different and use that to start building your content. A little more on this later. Let’s move on to the most important thing you can do to create great content.

What Do They Need

This is a hard truth to swallow, but it needs to be said. There’s a very good reason why some Facebook Pages get a lot more engagement than others: they’re content is just more interesting.

Now before you get all offended, let me explain. There are some companies who would be uninteresting to the masses because of what they do. Take for example a local hydraulics repair company. I didn’t even know they existed until my father-in-law needed a part repaired for his tractor, and asked me to pick it up when it was done. It would never have been a company that I was interested in before, because they didn’t have a service that I needed. But to my father-in-law, who uses his tractor for literally everything, the company is not only interesting, it is vital!

You can’t entertain everyone. Tastes differ from person to person. Interests differ from person to person. Philosophies differ from person to person. Heck, everything differs from person to person. You have to be aware that you have a unique audience made up of unique people. An audience of people that will not only respond to what you have to say on a regular basis, but will actively want to share your content. The best way for you to find that audience is to find out what they want. What their desires are. What problems they have. What they need. Then, find out how your business can help those people. That is the real key to great content. Make it about them, not you, and your content will be interesting, maybe even vital to them every single time.