In today’s world, a social media presence is not just recommended, it’s a necessity. Social media is the new way that consumers interact with brands. People now seek out and follow companies on social channels such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Whether it’s to see reviews, research products/services or to simply consume content, the public has an appetite for all things social, and brands need to be ready to deliver!

Companies understand that generating content is very important. The goal, of course, is to reach as many customers as possible. But you shouldn’t just put out content for the sake of posting something. That content must be meaningful and interesting; otherwise, it’s just noise. And speaking of noise, one of the noisiest places has become Facebook. This social channel is one of the most popular sites for content consumption. Even though content interest on Facebook has increased over the past few years, there has been a drastic decline in organic reach. There are two reasons for this.

1. The sheer volume of content being published makes visibility of the Facebook News Feed extremely competitive. Over the past several years, Facebook has managed more and more ad content, bringing the average organic reach to as low as 2 percent.

2. Facebook updated their algorithm in January 2018 to prioritize content from friends and family over media content. Now media content is less likely to appear prominently on customers’ feeds.

This decline in organic reach can be daunting for many businesses, particularly smaller companies that don’t have the resources to churn out massive amounts of quality content. With social media becoming increasingly more important for businesses, how can brands combat this decline? There are a few ways.

1. Repurposing Content

You have some great content. It’s thought-provoking, it pertains to your followers and you spent a lot of time creating it. However, 98 percent of your followers won’t see that content once you’ve posted it. Blog posts can take an average of 3 hours and 20 minutes to create. If only 2 percent of your followers are reached with each post, what a waste of an investment! The answer is repurposing your content. Quality content is expensive, and you want to get the best return on your investment. Do you have a great blog post from last year? Use it again! Simply update with any applicable new data, quotes or content and repost. With organic reach being so low, you can post repeatedly to maximize the number of followers who see your content. Repurposing gets the most reach out of your post.

2. Content Curation

Content curation is when a business (or individual) finds the most relevant and highest-quality content and shares it for consumption by their target audience. But isn’t that stealing another individual’s content? Nope, not in the slightest. That is what social media is all about – the sharing of ideas. Think of it this way: In a conversation, only talking about yourself is not very engaging. You need to let the other person shine as well. By sharing someone else’s content, you are validating that person’s perspectives. But that is not the only benefit. The sharing of content builds relationships with influencers, which establishes you as a thought leader. Those influencers, in turn, will share your content, increasing your reach. By doing this, you can publish more often without having to spend as much time creating unique content.

3. Facebook Ads

Repurposing content and content curation will definitely help your organic reach. But the reality is that with more content flooding the channel, reach will keep declining. According to Facebook, you should “assume organic reach will eventually arrive at zero. So, if you really want to reach your target audience on Facebook, you’ll need to supplement your organic efforts with some paid advertising.” And they are right! Facebook’s targeting ad platform will allow you to reach far more users than posting content alone. Their ability to target lets you zero in on your target audience and helps you to find other relevant fans. Through a Facebook ad investment, you can ensure that users are seeing the relevant and meaningful content you worked hard to create.

As Facebook becomes more crowded, simply posting content is not enough. You need to use these tools to make sure your content reaches the maximum number of followers. Otherwise, your interesting and thought-provoking content may never be seen.