digital marketing

Are Facebook Business Pages Worth It Anymore?

by Tracy Leigh Morgan

Ahhh, yes. A question that comes up from so many clients and colleagues these days. For all kinds of reasons.

Are Facebook business pages even worth it?

Let’s cut to the chase, shall we?  The answer is yes and, if for no other reason, here’s why: You must create a Facebook AD from a Facebook Page.

Now, let’s dig a little deeper.

Facebook business pages are some of the most confusing bits of marketing real estate a business owner has in their portfolio today. Lots of fears and information – spun into “truths” and anticipations and misinformation – have dominated our newsfeeds for months now.

Organic reach is dropping dead! My posts have no engagement! Facebook just wants my money! Pages are only going to show up in the Explore feed now!

Well, let’s start with dispelling a couple of notions about Facebook so we can get on to why you still DO want to play on this field.

First, if we can embrace the idea that Facebook is no longer a “free shingle” upon which we can dump our brilliant ideas, we’ll have a better time getting our heads around the opportunities.

The days of building your traffic (to your shop, to your website, to your blog…whatever) solely from free social media activities is over. Honestly, I think this is a good thing for small business owners. We’re busy. We’re stressed. We’re overextended. This new world order forces us to take a hard look at how we market, who we’re speaking to, and what we’re really trying to say. Sometimes free is the best thing ever. And sometimes it costs us in other ways – time, energy, hassle, confusion, and frustration.

Let’s stop trying to do “all the marketing things” just because they’re free. Instead, let’s use this shift as a jumping off point for better marketing.

Second, despite the sky-is-falling naysayers, Facebook is still the best bang for your buck.

Yes, I’m talking about paid advertising here, so hang with me. Facebook can be the most highly-targeted, brand friendly way for small businesses like you to get in front of your ideal customers…and you can do it with a very small budget.

Try telling your local glossy magazine that you ONLY want to reach females between 35-55, with a household income over $100k, and who definitely like Oprah, yoga, and Real Simple Magazine. Oh, and you just want to test it for a few days and spend $50.

Yep. Good luck with that.

And I hope I don’t have to convince you that YOUR ideal customer is on Facebook, but just in case here are some stats to ponder:

  • 75% of online adults with a HH income of $75k+ are on Facebook
  • 79% of 30-49 yo adults are on Facebook
  • 2 billion monthly active users. Monthly. Whoa.
    • While growing steadily, Instagram has just a quarter of that.
  • 66% of users are on Facebook daily
  • Average user spends 35 minutes a day on Facebook

Lesson: You certainly may find that another social platform has more of your primary audience (especially if your ideal customers are teens or millennials) but they’re ALSO on Facebook.

Third, Facebook pages are NOT going anywhere and the faster you shore up your presence, the sooner you can take advantage of all the new bells & whistles.

Organic reach CAN be tweaked but you’ll need encourage engagement. You’ll definitely want to use video. Bonus points for a great live video post here and there!

Without having to go completely overboard, the time is right to really tidy up your Facebook presence so you’ll be more comfortable, confident and ready to jump in with both feet!

It’s time to rethink our approach to Facebook business pages.

You’ll hear from “the experts” that it’s great to have a Facebook page but the engagement isn’t there anymore. That is likely true for some, but it’s not specific enough to make blanket recommendations for you and your business.

So, let’s think about things differently. After all:

  • You WANT to speak directly to your ideal customers without having to paper the neighborhood to (maybe) reach them.
  • You WANT to manage your marketing budget and keep things flexible, fluid, and malleable.
  • You WANT the feedback that you can get from testing ads, offers, demographics. (This will be a boon to your on- and offline marketing activities, too.)
  • You WANT to stop selling to the same ol’ audience anyway. Time to get those new eyeballs engaged!

Facebook pages can do more than just outbound, push content…if you use them correctly.

You can create magnetic, attractive, algorithm-busting content that actually brings your ideal clients to YOU. You can advertise specific offers to targeted audiences and get killer ROI. You can bring people who are ready and willing to buy to your doorstep, virtual or physical.

So, let’s ditch the “free is best” mentality and look at Facebook Business Pages as a new tool in our marketing toolboxes – a targeted, data-rich source of insights, audiences, and new revenue opportunities.

Can’t wait to keep talking!

Cheers!

(This is the first of a 5 part series about Facebook business pages.)