You may have heard, or even seen, that organic reach on Facebook has declined quite a bit over the last few months.

Why is this happening?

Facebook recognizes that each user has hundreds of connections to friends, family, and businesses on Facebook who are all regularly sharing content. In an effort to avoid overwhelming individuals with Facebook News Feed content, Facebook introduced the News Feed Algorithm (formerly known as EdgeRank).

Facebook recently made some changes that they hope will help provide a better experience for their users, but is making it difficult for marketers to have their content show up.

But here’s the thing: difficult doesn’t mean impossible.

Even with a decline in reach you’re still able to reach your most engaged people who are the most interested in your business — and they’re the ones that matter most.

Here are a few simple things you can do to have your content show up:

1. Post with a consistent frequency.

Facebook keeps track of the people or pages a fan interacted with, and gives a small boost to the visibility of the last fifty people/pages in the news feed. These interactions include engagement, profile, and photos views.

As a business page, it is ideal to be a part of those last fifty interactions in order to ensure your content gets seen. One of the best ways to do that is to make sure you’re sharing content on a consistent basis.

Come up with a posting schedule that works for you. If you’re having difficulty sticking to your schedule, look for tools to improve social media productivity.

2. Use calls-to-action wisely.

According to Facebook, high quality content is interesting enough to spark engagement without asking for it.

Instead of trying to ask fans to “like this post!” try asking fans to fill-in-the-blank, give you a “thumbs up,” or answer a true or false question. Word images are another great way to promote engagement.

3. Post appropriate sized images.

Facebook recommends uploading images that are 1200×1200. You can use Aviary or PicMonkey to create or crop images to the appropriate size.

This is important because Facebook considers images that fit their dimensions: high quality content, which means you’ll be given more visibility.

4. Post a variety of types of content.

By varying the types of you content you share, you can engage your fans in an assortment of ways: likes, shares, clicks or comments. High quality content is determined by clicks and comments according to Facebook. However, it’s unlikely that the same post would stimulate both actions.

By publishing different types of content, you can create a balance of engagement and ensure your content will more prominently appear in the news feed.

5. Find the best time to post on Facebook.

The hour and day you publish content on Facebook has a significant impact on the reach of your content.  Facebook sheds some light on this information within Insights.

You can also test different times/days to see what works best for your audience.

6. Keep your content relevant to your brand.

Facebook recently concluded that its users prefer engaging with current news or shared interests rather than memes. As a result, Facebook has begun limiting the reach of content like “memes,” in favor of other, more relevant pieces of content.

Stick to content that relates to the reason a fan originally liked your page to stay off Facebook’s naughty list.

7. Post content that is likely to spur a conversation.

When it comes to engaging on Facebook, writing a comment takes the most effort. If your fans are going to take the time to write a comment, it will likely be on a post that is relevant to them or something they care about.

Content that prompts Facebook users to comment is classified as high quality and as a result receives a boost in news feed appearances.

8. Share links that are mobile friendly.

Knowing that 300 million users only access Facebook on a mobile device, Facebook has begun putting greater emphasis on links that work effectively on a mobile device. To determine whether or not the page you’re linking to is mobile friendly, simply test it on your phone first!

Put people first.

While understanding how the News Feed works is important, what’s most important is that you’re putting the needs, interests, and expectations of your audience first.

After all, social media is about connecting with your audience and building relationships with the people who matter most.

Focus on creating content that’s relevant to them and you won’t have any problem getting noticed in the News Feed.

Want to learn more? Download our new guide, Facebook for Small Business: How to Get Discovered and Generate New Business.