Why Facebook isn’t enough . . .
Many small business owners are actively using their Facebook Page to grow their businesses. Some are even abandoning the idea of having web pages and blogs in favour of a Facebook Page.
It seems so much easier than the other options. However, this is a big mistake. Facebook is not enough in the world of online marketing to make a difference. Here’s why.
Your Online Presence Needs Many Entry Points
To attract your audience today you need several places in which they can find you. You do need Facebook with its vast audience, but you should consider other social media sites along with your website. Your website should be considered the main source for all your social media sharing. The key, as I’ve covered before, is knowing where your audience hangs out. These days it’s as likely to be on Instagram or Snapchat as Facebook.
Your entire focus with your social media activity should be to drive traffic, increase engagement, and build your database. Having only one point of entry into your business will leave a lot of people out.
Facebook Is Not Set Up to Provide Information in a Cohesive Way
If someone wants more information after seeing a post on Facebook, even if they go to your Facebook Page, it is not easy to find it. Posts get hidden in the crowd. It is far more effective to lead them to your website which can have information for your audience displayed in a cohesive way that can be used easily by them. They should be able to get more information from your website than they can on even the best made Facebook Page.
You Need to Build an Email List Too
While people may message you via your Facebook Page, you also need to build an email list and be able to contact them away from social media. You’ve heard it said that “the money is in the list” and it’s not an exaggeration. Building an email list is an important factor in any business success. Communicating to your audience only through Facebook isn’t enough; you must also build a targeted email list, capturing their information and sending up-to-date information to subscribers on a regular basis. An email marketing campaign, using your contacts from social media, is still one of the best forms of direct marketing.
You Don’t Own Your Facebook Page
This is something I frequently point out to clients; you don’t own your Facebook Page and you can’t back it up. You could be shut down for any reason on any given day, and I’ve seen it happen to a few people who haven’t complied with Facebook’s ‘rules’. Their Pages have been suspended from a few days to a few weeks or even closed down altogether.
In addition, not every person who “likes” your page sees your updates. Facebook’s algorithm decides who sees your updates and it definitely isn’t all your fans. You can pay for Facebook advertising and that can be an important and effective part of online marketing, but it should be only part of your online marketing.
You can be wiped out without any warning on any social media site. Until and unless these facts change, you will need some where you drive traffic from social media, whether to your website or directly to an email marketing list.
However, I do strongly recommend that you do have a Facebook Page as with over 1 billion searches a day and Facebook usage increasing 20% month on month, your potential customers will certainly be on there.
BREAKING NEWS
Just when you thought you didn’t need any more social media platforms Samsung Launches New Social Media Platform, Waffle: “a new content-sharing application” that “enables users to create a new feed of expandable content” and “add to existing related content, as if contributing to a communal graffiti wall.”
Facebook: Facebook Introduces Delivery Insights in Ads Manager: Facebook’s new Delivery Insights are “a new set of insights available in Ads Manager that tells advertisers how their ads are competing at auction and provides recommendations on how to tweak the ad to make it more competitive.” This new feature “will begin rolling out globally to Ads Manager in a few weeks.”
Facebook Rolls Out Profile Frames Feature: Facebook’s new profile frames feature allows you to “show your support for a cause, cheer on your favourite sports team, or celebrate a moment in life.”
Twitter: Twitter Tests New Stickers Feature for Photos: Twitter is “considering a new product it’s calling ‘Stickers’ that would let you add images to photos before tweeting them out.”
Twitter Rolls Out Seamless Login Experience for Twitter Sites and TweetDeck: “Starting today, when you’re logged into any Twitter website, like twitter.com or analytics.twitter.com, you’ll no longer need to log into TweetDeck separately.”
Instagram: Instagram Introduces Feed Algorithm to Show Best Posts First: The new Instagram algorithm shifts the order of photos and videos in your feed “based on the likelihood you’ll be interested in the content, your relationship with the person posting, and the timeliness of the post.”
Rolls Out Notification on the Web: “Instagram has begun showing notifications in a new drop-down box on its website. The box shows likes, people who’ve followed you, and friends who have recently started Instagram accounts.
Snapchat: Snapchat Adds Caption Button to Discover: “Snapchat has quietly added a caption button that Discover publishers can use to make their videos audio-optional.”
