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Organic posts are one of the most powerful (and simple) tools you can use to establish your business as the authority in your industry. Even better, it’s free!

Unlike paid advertisements, organic post are as easy as snapping a pic or typing a catchy phrase, then posting it to your business page.

Unfortunately, that’s about all the thought most business owners put into making a Facebook post. Which is fine … if an overall strategy and template has been developed for organic post. 

The strategy outlined in this post is a proven method to position your business as the go-to authority in your industry.

Most businesses have a shotgun approach. Making random post with no cohesiveness or thought of how the post fits an overall strategy.

Here is how most businesses post:

Monday: Get 10% off!

Tuesday: nothing

Wednesday: nothing

Thursday: nothing

Friday: Random picture with no text. 2 hours later, another random picture. 5 minutes later, another random picture. (Notice there have been no post all week then all of a sudden there are 3 post within 2 hours!)

Saturday: Get 10% off!

Sunday: Stop in Monday to get 10% off!

This maybe you. If so, that’s fine. But STOP IT!

Not only is it ineffective but it’s annoying!

Facebook actually has an algorithm to weed out these post. They want the best user experience possible for everyone on Facebook. We’ve found that Facebook shows those annoying post to about 5% (or less) of your potential reach. Instead of reaching 1,000 people, you reach 50.

Why Your Post Engagement and Views Have Been Declining

Facebook says,

Rather than showing people all possible content, News Feed is designed to show each person on Facebook the content that’s most relevant to them. Of the 1,500+ stories a person might see whenever they log onto Facebook, News Feed displays approximately 300. To choose which stories to show, News Feed ranks each possible story (from more to less important) by looking at thousands of factors relative to each person.

The First Step to Stopping the Decline

You’re at a party with friends. Within five minutes of meeting the new guy in the group, he’s trying to sell you his product or service. He’s given you a card and working on scheduling the appointment. You can’t get away fast enough.

But how about the guy you meet, a financial planner, that after some small talk about your kids, he gives you a great tip on a new tax-free college fund for your kid. After that short exchange, the conversation continues onto something else that interest both of you.

The next morning while getting ready for work, you see his ad for financial services on the morning news.

Question: Who from the party are you more likely to do business with? I guarantee it’s not the annoying guy that gave you a cold sales pitch.

But what about the second guy. He was genuine. Gave you a free piece of valuable advice with nothing expected in return.

The later built trust. Trust is the single most important factor in any business relationship (or any type of relationship).

In Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook, Gary Vaynerchuck writes,

“If you’re in business, first and foremost, you have to be nice. Show your customers that you care.”

“Your story needs to move people’s spirits and build their goodwill, so that when you finally do ask them to buy from you, they feel like you’ve given them so much it would be almost rude to refuse.”

Jabs are what Vaynerchuck says when referring to multiple pieces of valuable content . The sell is the right hook. A boxer throws lots of jabs before he ever goes for the knock out punch – a right hook!

Organic post are your jabs. Fill your page with valuable content, funny memes, behind the scenes videos and customer success stories, then throw the right hook with a Facebook Ad.

Introducing the Facebook Jab Strategy

The step-by-step strategy is the ultimate way to engage customers. It will create a community. A tribe of followers. It will attract new leads. And most important, build trust.

How often to post:

The typical user could see around 1500 post a day but Facebook’s algorithm cuts that down to about 300. Only the most engaging 300 are shown.

Post once per week and you’re not going to reach much of your audience. Post too much and your followers may miss some important post. We found one post per day is ideal.

With this template, you are going to make some powerful post. You want to give your followers enough time to see the post. Remember, there is a limited number of post that Facebook shows users. The more you post, the less room it leaves for your other post. Again, we found once a day is the optimal post volume.

Following are five different types of post to make as part of the Facebook Jab Strategy .

Educational Content: Nelson Mandela once said, “Education is the most powerful weapon to change the world.” It’s also a fairly powerful tool to create customer loyalty and engage new ones. People don’t care about our brand, store or product. They care about “What does it do for me?” Create valuable content that helps solve your customers’ issues. A video that entertains them. A blog post that teaches them how to create something. The more you teach and entertain, the more you can sell.

Engagement: In Seth Godins’s book, Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us, he says “Leaders lead when they take positions, when they connect with their tribes, and when they help the tribe connect to itself.” People want to connect. Feel apart of something. The purpose of the engagement post is to prompt communication between the leader (you, the business) and customers and also customer to customer engagement.

This is done by posting an open ended question for the day.

Any business can post something like, “What is your favorite local restaurant?”

A running store may post, “What is Your Favorite Brand of Running Shoe and Why?”

A book store could ask, “Do you prefer fiction or nonfiction?”

Behind the Scenes: The purpose here is threefold.

1. Allow the customer to connect with a real person. A custom furniture store may post a video or pictures of them building a dining table. Retailers could could show the unboxing of the latest products. People don’t always realize there is an actual person behind the business. A person just like them. Brand connection is powerful. But nothing can match human connection.
2. Establish the “Why”. People don’t buy your product or service. They buy the result that it gives them. Show the building process of your physical product. How you test a product. The backend to the service you provide. A web design company could post a picture of their team huddled around the drafting table with mockups and sketches.
3. People want to be entertained. Some of you reading this are local celebrities in you community or industry. Look at the success of reality TV. Behind the scenes photos and stories is the top way to entertain your audience. Throw in some bloopers.

Celebrity Customer or Employee: Make your customers celebrities and they will love you. Create celebrities out of your employees and they will be loyal for a lifetime.

It doesn’t need to be “celebrity” in the terms we typically think. Not a movie star.

This is more about recognition. If your customer runs a 5k, post a congratulations. Even if your business has nothing to do with running. Let your employees write blog post or produce educational content. Establish them as the expert.

Meme: This is a humorous image usually with funny text. People love these.

The Template for the Facebook Jab Strategy

Following is a suggested template. This is not set in stone. We find certain post are more engaging for different types of businesses for different days. The one constant though is the frequency of Educational Content. Aim to post 2 – 3 pieces of Educational Content each week.

Monday – engagement, question

Tuesday – content, education

Wednesday – behind the scenes

Thursday – content, education

Friday – meme

Saturday – Celebrity customer or employee

Sunday – freestyle

Implement the Jab Strategy Now

The Facebook Jab Strategy increases customer loyalty, establishes your business as the authority and drives new leads. Best of all, it drives up revenue!

The template allows you to know exactly what to post each day. Save time by scheduling your post at the start of each week. Send this article to your team member that handles social media. Send it to your marketing agency.

If you found this article useful, please consider sharing it to your Facebook or Twitter page.

Want to know how to put Facebook to work for your business?  Click here to get and we’ll share exactly what we’re doing for our clients.