At one time, some felt that an effective Facebook marketing strategy meant quantity over quality. In recent years, however, businesses have noted declining interaction with organic posts. There are several reasons for this, chief among them is the explosion of brand content, and because Facebook changed its algorithm to give less preference to brand posts in users’ News Feeds to keep personal interaction a priority. The solution: targeted boosted posts, which provide a virtual nudge to content struggling to attract followers' attention.

How Boosted Posts Can Improve Your Facebook Marketing ROI

Quantity no longer trumps quality. While this shift makes some business owners nervous about future social media strategy, others view it as a huge opportunity. Rather than putting effort into ineffective social media updates, businesses can hone in on more meaningful content, packing a greater punch with each post. Businesses that embrace the new Facebook marketing landscape stand to achieve better social media ROI than ever. Keep reading to learn how:

Assume Declining Organic Reach

For now, you can still share the occasional organic post with your fans. However, as Facebook continues to attract new business, expect limited reach for each non-promoted post. Projections from marketing experts at HubSpot indicate that organic reach will ultimately plummet to near zero. This is the time to transition to an approach that emphasizes paid promotions over traditional organic posts.

Be Selective

Save time and money by reducing the frequency of social media updates. Remember, the vast majority of organic posts will not reach future users. Instead, focus your efforts on a select few updates, designed to appeal most to your target market by providing value. These posts may cost you, but they'll ultimately deliver a far greater ROI.

Boosted Posts Versus Dark Posts

As you target your core market, use Facebook's boosting tool to ramp up your results with already existing content (page posts). Facebook's boosting strategy strives to better reach followers using content you've already created, which also allows for organic reach alongside paid reach encouraging greater engagement, as opposed to a dark post that doesn’t ever appear on your page, but essentially runs “behind the scenes.”

Both boosted and dark posts can be targeted at a mass audience or a more selective group of followers. Facebook then allows you to choose your total budget and the length of the campaign.

Encourage Active Engagement

Boost all you want — but focus on promoting high quality posts that encourage engagement when you do. This could be as simple as encouraging followers to like and share their favorite posts. Better yet, spark conversation with compelling questions or intriguing content that followers can't help but share, with or without your encouragement. The more they engage with your content, the more of it they'll see — and the more invested they'll be in your brand.

Use Videos for Boosted Posts

Looking for an easy path to engaged followers? Share intriguing videos on your page. Research highlighted by AdvertisingAge indicates that Facebook videos enjoy a 186 percent higher engagement rate than other types of social media content, and they're shared far more often. Improve on results by boosting videos — a tactic TEDx speaker and Leche Libre founder Andrea Newberry has used to great effect.

From uploading videos to strategic boosting, a variety of simple tactics allow you to make the most of every Facebook update. Emphasize quality over quantity, and you'll have no trouble achieving greater customer engagement on a limited budget.