If your small business is on social media, then you’ll know exactly how difficult it can be to grow your audience. Of course, your friends, family, colleagues and customers will be happy to drop you some Facebook likes in support of your move to the internet, but the chances of growing a local, relevant audience are slim without investing your time, money and patience.

Below, we’ve put together five ways that you can boost your organicFacebook likes and traffic from Facebook for your local business, so read on to find out more.

Stop automating every post

Although automation is great for periods when you don’t have the time to post yourself, there is significant value in delivering a human touch on social media – particularly for small businesses where management and staff members are at the front and centre of daily operations. Take group photographs at functions and wear-what-you-want days, make funny memes and share personal stories about your business. Not everything has to be corporate!

Don’t buy Fiverr likes

Wanting to grow your audience quickly and effectively makes sense, but buying Facebook likes from websites such as Fiverr is a big no-no. You’ll never boost your organic likes by buying a bunch of spam likes from India – indeed, the practice is against Facebook’s code of conduct. Your page may be penalised if you buy fake likes, so be patient and wait it out.

Publish evergreen content

Evergreen content is content that doesn’t go out of fashion. For Facebook, posting timeless content that offers something useful to your audience is a ranking factor. Whether you’re posting guides, memes, quotes or statistics, evergreen content can provide a sustainable alternative to time-sensitive material – particularly for small businesses that have little time to spend on social media.

Target your posts

You may already be familiar with post targeting if you’ve used Facebook Ads, but the practice works just as well for organic content. You can tailor your posts to specific demographics – or relevant customers – based on their age, gender, location and interest, so try out targeting and see what it can do for you. The more relevant your posts are to your audience, the more likely you are to get a share or a comment – thus extending your reach and increasing the chances of new organic likes.

Post when your competitors don’t

There are a whole host of experts online claiming to know the best time to share your content to Facebook, but sometimes your engagement levels come down to nothing other than luck. However, one way to maximise your chances of success is to post when your competitors are offline – or even when they’re asleep! Posting at non-peak times has a range of benefits, and recent changes to Facebook’s algorithms mean that your content doesn’t necessarily have to be brand new to appear on your audiences’ timelines.

There really is no set formula for boosting your organic Facebook likes and engagement levels on Facebook, but taking advantage of our five techniques should certainly offer a step in the right direction.