Facebook is not dead
Every year, another wave of "Facebook is dying" articles. Every year, Facebook remains the most used social platform in Australia, with 16+ million monthly active users.
The demographic mix has shifted — it skews older than it did in 2015 — but for many Australian businesses, Facebook still reaches the highest-intent, highest-purchasing-power segment of their audience.
Here's how to use it effectively.
What Facebook rewards in 2026
Facebook's algorithm has evolved significantly. What gets reach now:
Reels (short video) — Facebook is aggressively promoting Reels, showing them to non-followers and giving them significantly higher organic reach than other formats.
Groups and community content — Posting within relevant Facebook Groups still drives high engagement for businesses that engage authentically rather than just broadcasting.
Meaningful social interactions — Content that generates comments from multiple different people, or that people share to their personal profiles, gets disproportionate reach.
Original, long-form video — Facebook (unlike Instagram) still rewards longer-form video content, particularly for educational or instructional content.
What gets deprioritised:
Facebook-specific content types that work for Australian businesses
Event promotions — Facebook's event functionality is still genuinely superior to other platforms for local events. Australian businesses running workshops, markets, open days, or sales should use Facebook Events.
Local community content — Posts that reference specific local places, events, or communities consistently outperform generic content on Facebook. "Brisbane" performs better than "Queensland." "Fortitude Valley" performs better than "Brisbane."
Facebook Groups — Creating or participating in relevant local or industry Facebook Groups drives awareness more organically than page posts. A café participating in "Brunswick Food and Coffee" conversations reaches a targeted local audience more effectively than paid ads.
Facebook Live — Live video gets 6x more interaction than standard video on Facebook. For product launches, Q&As, or behind-the-scenes content, consider Facebook Live.
Optimal posting times for Australian Facebook
Based on data from Australian business pages:
Avoid Monday morning (people are catching up on work, not scrolling) and Friday afternoon (same issue, plus weekend mode kicks in differently on Facebook).
Facebook Shops
If you're an ecommerce business, Facebook Shops integration is worth setting up. It allows:
Zestly can schedule posts with product tags if your Facebook Catalogue is connected.
Scheduling Facebook with Zestly
Zestly supports:
Note: Facebook Group scheduling requires direct management through Facebook's native tools, as the API doesn't support it.
For Page posts, the Zestly workflow is:
1. Create post in the composer
2. Select Facebook Page as the destination
3. Choose posting time (or use Zestly's recommendation)
4. Schedule
If you're cross-posting from Instagram to Facebook, Zestly handles the resize and formatting automatically — you just toggle the Facebook option when creating an Instagram post.
The realistic Facebook strategy for 2026
Facebook works best as one channel in a multi-platform strategy, not as a primary focus. For most Australian businesses:
Organic reach on Facebook Pages has declined significantly over the years. A healthy strategy uses organic content for community building and paid content for direct response and acquisition.
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