It's no secret that unless you're willing to spend some money on advertising (hint: you should), getting your Facebook business page's message seen by anyone is becoming more and more difficult. But what if you literally have no money in the budget for even $50 a month to spend on ads. Is it totally a lost cause?

No. Not entirely.

There are a few things you can do to make it at least a little bit better, and while it won't get your message seen by everyone who likes your page, it will increase it a little bit. I suggest that you play around with different types of posts until you find one that works best for you, and then stick with it. If one kind of post ALWAYS gets more engagement, that's your audience telling you what they like. Stick with it and don't vary from it too often.

Here are some other tips:

Adjusting the Times that You Post

Make sure that you are looking at your page analytics. If you've never done this, you could be in for a surprise. Without fail, every single one of our clients' (and our page as well) peak time that their customers are online is around 9 pm. Every. Single. One. The time when they are there the least? Between 6 am-9 am. Yet, when do most businesses update their pages? Around 9 am. That's because it's when you are at your desk, and it is when you have decided it's time to make your daily post. I'm not saying NOT to make that post at 9 am, but while you're making that post, why not go ahead and schedule one for that evening as well? At least a few days a week. And what about the weekend? Are you telling your followers that you are a Monday - Friday, 9-5 business? Use the scheduling function to your advantage, and I promise you will see a significant increase in your engagement. Why? Because the vast majority of committed Facebook users are women in the age bracket of 30 and up, and 9 pm is the time when they have finally gotten the family fed and settled down and are finally sitting down to unwind. Usually on Facebook.

Create Content that Gets a Reaction

I'm not talking about inciting a riot but rather a reaction such as a share, like, comment, etc. Your ultimate goal is to get some kind of action, because then Facebook gets that this person REALLY likes your page and the content you put on it. Why do you think so many businesses use phrases such as "like this if you... ." This is also why quotes and images get used a lot, too. People will click "like" or share something visual far more frequently than they will answer a question. But if asking questions works well with your audience, by all means, ask away.

Link in Comments

Have you seen this kind of post in your stream and wondered what it meant? Usually you'll see this kind of post from bloggers when they share their latest post. And if you've listened to anything that I've talked about over the years, then you should have a blog, too... right? So when you go to share your latest blog post on your Facebook page, don't just put the link in the status message. Instead, give a little tease  and close the status with (link in comments). Then put the link in the first comment block below the status. Why do this?  Facebook does not like for people to be taken off of the site, so when you put a link in the main section of your post, you're going to get less eyeballs on it because Facebook sees that it could possibly take the reader off the site. By "hiding" the link in the comment section, you'll increase the odds that it will show up on more walls than the other way. I'm not saying it will go from 10% to 50%, but it will be better.

I'll be interested to see if you try these out whether you'll see an improvement on the number of people who see your posts. Will you come back and let me know if you do?