So I’m sure you’re already aware of this, but the truth is: if you want to be successful at Facebook marketing in 2015 you will have to invest in Facebook advertising. It may be frustrating to hear but it’s the cold, hard truth. However, even though Facebook ads will be necessary to reach your ideal client on Facebook, there are things you can do to increase engagement and build an audience naturally. Check out these 5 tips for growing your Facebook audience…without spending a dime.

Post content that encourages engagement.

Ask fun, easy questions or use fill-in-the-blank statements to encourage people to engage with you on Facebook. Do be careful, though: resist the temptation to say “LIKE IF…” or “COMMENT IF…” Facebook sees content like that as “link baiting” and will be less likely to share it in the newsfeed. They cracked down on link baiting in 2014 in an attempt to reduce spammy pages from using techniques like these to get more of their low quality content in the newsfeed.

Use more pictures.

Visual content is far more likely to be noticed in the news feed, which means it will get far more attention. Think about your own behavior on social media. Chances are you are most often on Facebook on your mobile phone. And chances are that when you open the app, you sit there and scroll rapidly until something catches your eye. We have become a “scrolling society.” The days of “keep your content above the fold” are behind you. Focus on creating visual content that will catch the eye as people are scrolling.

You can even combine the first and second tips by putting your questions WITHIN an image.

Post less promotional content.

It seems like companies go one of two ways with their social media profiles – they either post lots of promotional content or they forget to self-promote entirely. While you can, and should, be promoting your business’s products and services on Facebook, make sure that it’s not the only thing you’re doing. 80% or more of your content should be content that your audience wants to see – informative content, inspirational quotes, humor, etc.

Share links.

Facebook announced in 2014 that they will be giving higher priority to links that are shared directly, over images that are posted with the link copied and pasted in the text over the image. Make sure that you have the correct image for on your blog post to get the largest possible image on Facebook.

According to Facebook, you should “Use images that are at least 1200 x 630 pixels for the best display on high resolution devices. At the minimum, you should use images that are 600 x 315 pixels to display link page posts with larger images. If your image is smaller than 600 x 315 px, it will still display in the link page post, but the size will be much smaller.”

Engage with people who do comment.

Don’t just be a broadcaster on Facebook. If you get people to engage with your content…comment back! Start conversations. The more you do this, the more likely Facebook will be to put your content back out into the newsfeed…and at the very least, those people who are engaging with you will start to see your content more frequently. And don’t forget, the more you become front of mind by getting in front of people in the newsfeed, the more you will be likely to convert those people to paying customers…which is, of course, the big goal.