Of all the social channels out there, Facebook seems to be the hardest one to master. And it should be the easiest one — everyone's on Facebook!!

How can it possibly be so hard to reach your ideal client when everyone is on Facebook? You know your ideal client is there — why can't they find you?

Here's why: because everyone is on Facebook.

It's hard to stand out on Facebook when you have thousands of other people doing the same thing, offering the same services, and selling the same products. What's worse is that having a unique name doesn't help new people find you.

So what do you do? Do you leave Facebook? Delete your page and your group and set up your shop elsewhere? Do you move to a service like Mighty Networks?

No. None of the above.

Here's What you do When Facebook Sucks

First, stop panicking!! Facebook is not the only social channel to rely on an algorithm to try to keep its members happy. Remember, you are one of two billion people using Facebook. Facebook is not interested in suppressing what you have to say — only in making sure the other 1,999,999,999 users get to see what they want to see.

Double check your content. Sure, reach is going down on Facebook, but it's not because Facebook is purposely suppressing posts. There are several factors contributing to the declining reach:

• Facebook's algorithms require engagement to work. If no one is engaging on your content, then Facebook's algorithm can't pull it up to show it to people
• Facebook businesses are posting more than they ever have before, with the average page increasing from 1-2 posts per day in 2017 up to as many as 5-6 posts per day now. This may not seem like a big deal, but the more posts that go up on Facebook every day, the more competition heats up for that all-important spot in Facebook's newsfeed.
• People are not spending as much time on Facebook as we are. Even though we might spend seven or eight hours on Facebook, the average user spends 40 minutes on Facebook throughout the day. Forty minutes is not a lot of time, especially when other pages are pumping out more posts to compete for their attention.
• When business reach starts to decline, instinct tells them to pump out even more content rather than analyze the content they have. This is kind of like the scattershot approach — throw out as much as you can and get in front of as many faces as you can and see what sticks. But doing more of what doesn't work isn't going to give you more in return. Most businesses can do just fine posting 4-6 times per day, as long as they are posting at the right times for their audience, are including strong calls to action, and driving engagement. There is no reason to increase your content production just because your reach has dropped.

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So, the first thing you should do when Facebook sucks is check over your content and review your analytics. Are you posting at the right times? Is your audience online? Are you including good calls to action that tell your audience what you want them to do next? Does your content show off a good bit of your personality and the 3Ps?

What about engagement, are you talking to and responding to people on your posts? Engagement doesn't mean just throw up a post that asks a question and leave it at that. Do something with the answers. Reply to the comments, say hello, you know, hold a conversation. If you're not going to respond to the comments people leave you, then you may as well not even bother.

Make small adjustments to your posting schedule based on these insights and numbers. If your content is too much promotion and not enough personality, make adjustments to your social content strategy.

Next, stay consistent. We cannot stress this enough — consistency will beat out brilliance every time. Find the posting schedule and content mix that works for you and stick with it. Facebook changes its algorithms weekly — sometimes even daily. Most of the time, you're not going to notice. Every once in a while, a bigger bump in the algorithms might make your page take a dip. Don't worry about this. If your content strategy is strong and your content mix is working, then your page will get over any dip. Those algorithms won't hurt you.

Finally, take a look at other platforms to use for your business. We love Facebook, and we would never tell you to leave Facebook, but you also shouldn't rely on Facebook to house your business. What if it goes under next week? What if there's a major security hack that wipes its user base and your groups and pages get deleted? What if Facebook finally starts charging people to run a business page on their platform?

The truth is, anything can happen that could put your business at risk if you are relying only on Facebook. So you want to make sure you're also on other platforms. Not only will this make it easier for your ideal client to find you, but it will also make it easier for you to recover if you ever find yourself trying to run your business without Facebook. Some things you can do to help decrease your risk on Facebook include:

• Find another platform you can use as an alternative to Facebook parties
• Find a way of following up with your clients that isn't Facebook messenger
• Take advantage of search engine traffic to feed your funnel
• Build your email list and send regular emails to your audience

Here's the deal: Facebook doesn't suck — and leaving Facebook now is a mistake. Remember earlier when we said “every body's on Facebook?” Yea — every body's on Facebook. Clients, customers, clients who don't know they want to be your customers yet. And Facebook is still the first place someone will look when they want to check out a brand to connect with. So, no, Facebook doesn't suck. Facebook is actually a great platform for your business and should be a part of your marketing strategy. Relying solely on Facebook — that's what sucks. And if you're doing that, then it's time to rethink your marketing strategy and start making sure you build out a more robust plan that can actually support the growth of your company.

#EmpowerSocial