I’m posting like crazy on Facebook, so why is no one seeing my posts and why am I not selling any products?

For any serious marketers, being on social media and engaging with customers is mandatory in this digital age, like it or not. The consumer journey now involves so many different touch points and interacting with customers has never been more crucial than it is on Facebook, where comments are visible when prospects are exploring your brand. But, hold your horses. You are paying a fortune to people to post engaging content on Facebook and you are getting likes and comments, but few people are seeing it and no one is buying. Why? There is a difference between advertising and PR. PR Is great for brand awareness, but it won’t sell product. Organic posting on Facebook is more like PR. However, advertising on Facebook is a whole different ball game. Facebook’s organic reach has been steadily in decline since 2013 at least, with the average organic post reaching less than 2% of fans who have liked the page. This is intentional on Facebook’s part in order to encourage advertising. Placing ads on Facebook will guarantee that your content is seen, not only by fans, but by prospects as well. And an ad can ask for the order and give compelling reasons to do so, the way it is in traditional media. Whether you are simply boosting posts or have a more complex ad campaign, buying advertising is a more sure fired way to get you seen than designing campaigns to create engagement. Both advertising and PR can work together (organic and paid ads), but to just expect sales from organic posts and hoping that something may go “viral” is not a strategy that will work for many brands, especially those on a budget. Now with Facebook’s recent announcement that it will cut back dramatically on marketer’s posts, your content will be seen even less. And they have even warned about tactics to encourage comments to posts to get better rankings will be cracked down on and discouraged. So what is a marketer to do? Buy ads on Facebook. Direct selling on Facebook through ads has been a sure fire way to get leads and sales and it will continue to be a great source of revenue. And those organic posts for marketers? They just may be going the way of the Betamax.