Facebook started somewhat humbly as a place where college students could connect with fellow students and friends. It was a simple place back then, nothing like what it’s become today.
Today, a total of 2.45 billion accounts are active.
Facebook is no longer only a space where you simply share photos of your vacation (although it is still definitely that). It’s also a place where people and businesses can sell products. It’s a place where people fight about politics. It’s a place where businesses and organizations can purchase ads to get products and services in front of their target audiences.
It’s so much different than the initial version that launched in 2004, and whether you feel that’s a good thing or not, it’s definitely brought a ton of value to both businesses and individuals, along with some negative impacts as well.
Facebook has become a significant part of many companies’ marketing strategies. It’s an excellent resource for product promotion, building brand awareness and generally growing your business.
As it’s available for free and has many active users, it attracted a lot of businesses worldwide. Brands post photos of their products with their information, and they get contacted by customers. And while there has been a noticeable drop in organic reach, businesses can still benefit by creating a large following and also using Facebook ads.
This is why it became a good option for small businesses to work into their marketing strategies. Let’s explore the relationship between Facebook and Business.
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Facebook And Business
Let me make this clear – Facebook is the largest social media platform today in terms of overall users. With billions of monthly users, the social media giant is an excellent tool for reaching the general public in masses and communicating with them about your business.
A total of 80 million Facebook pages are active on the network. Small, as well as large, companies have created and launched Facebook pages for their business. And those businesses are taking advantage of the numerous opportunities Facebook has to promote your brand.
While Facebook is a great tool for marketing still, as mentioned before, there has been a hit to organic value based on its rules and algorithms and updates the company has made through the years. That being said, there is definitely still lots of great stuff on Facebook, so let’s look at some of the valuable features of the channel.
Facebook’s valuable features and functions
Facebook has many features that can be used for marketing and for business growth in general.
For starters, businesses can easily post pictures or videos about products or services on their pages. This is a great way to introduce your followers and current customers to products when you launch them or let them know about new hires, new tools available, updated features, and so much more.
There are various sections where you can add to the Facebook page, but you need to look at which sections are necessary for your business and which aren’t a fit.
With a Facebook Business Page, you have the ability to utilize sections like:
- community
- newsfeed
- events
- reviews
- info
- ads
- offers
- services
- posts
- and more…all of which can be used for promotions in different ways.
The channel also supports 111 languages, which removes the language barrier, and you can easily convey all your messages through it no matter where you are targeting. It’s the most multi-lingual social media channel around.
Facebook likes to note that no two businesses are the same; and with this in mind, Facebook provides a space for all businesses to express themselves and grow.
Advertising is huge
Facebook has earned $17.44 billion through advertising in the first quarter of 2020.
Mobile apps are where it’s at
96% of the users use a mobile app over desktop for Facebook. One of the best ways of communicating to the masses is through their phones, and Facebook helps in doing that.
Advantages of Facebook For Business
1. Reachability
With so many users worldwide, Facebook can help your business reach its current and potential customers easily. 1.67 billion daily active users is a huge opportunity to expand and build your business page. According to a recent study, 86% of Internet users making over $100k per year are active on Facebook, thus opening up doors to grab a nice chunk of that disposable income.
2. Lowering Marketing Expenses
The creation of a Business Page on Facebook costs you nothing. And if you decide you want to test out the channel’s advertising tools, Facebook ads are generally inexpensive compared to traditional print, radio, or tv commercials and are better-targeted as well. The cost is also typically lower than advertising on other social media channels.
3. Targeting
Many people use Facebook, but not every person on the channel is a potential customer for your business. Fortunately, Facebook can be used to target a specific market segment or demographic that aligns best with your business. A specific region can also be targeted by using Facebook, so if you are a more local or regional business, you can target nearby customers.
4. Insights
You have tons of transparency into how your posts are performing with Facebook’s Insights feature. Facebook Insights provide information regarding the reach of your posts or page, new page likes, page views, post reach and more, which helps you understand how your page or post is doing for the business to allow you to adjust and fine-tune your efforts.
5. Build Brand Loyalty
Building loyalty or equity is one of the most sought after goals for any business, and Facebook helps you do that. By posting interesting and engaging content regularly, you can stay connected with your target audience and build strong, lasting relationships. Being active and responsive can seriously help your company connect and grow.
6. Spy On Competitors
As the pages are public and open to all, this helps you see what your competitors are doing and what strategies they are using. This requires a lot of work, but it’s very much worth the effort. You can gain a lot of valuable insights by digging around your competitors’ pages.
7. Great Content
Not only can you post content, but you can also view content as well which can help you learn and help you grow. And if you find content you like, there are tools to take it with you rather than having to constantly go back to Facebook to view it. One of the best ways to do so is by getting offline access to Facebook videos and other media.
Disadvantages of Facebook for Business
1. Professional Staff Requirements
For carrying out business activities on Facebook, you require a team of marketing and social media specialists to ensure you are doing it the right way. The team members handle tasks such as posting pictures about your products, marketing, contacting customers, responding to mentions and so much more. It can be time consuming, especially if you have more channels than just Facebook, so you should consider hiring a pro or outsourcing to a digital marketing agency.
2. Training Staff
Your staff has to be adequately trained in doing business online and carrying out promotional activities online. They should also be trained on the ins and outs of using social media properly and trained to follow your brand’s guidelines. This can take significant time, and even though you may be tempted, never hand over the keys to your social media to an intern or someone not in the marketing field.
3. Updating Regularly
One has to keep their Facebook page well-updated regularly; otherwise, this might negatively impact the company’s image. If you don’t have the time to post consistently, you’re better off not setting up an account in the first place. A Facebook Page with posts every few months will sit and collect does. And, for those who do land on your page, they will form a negative opinion of you brand.
4. Reviews
It’s completely normal for customers to post negative reviews, and even competitors can do this. If you haven’t received a negative review yet, just wait. You just haven’t been in business long enough. These reviews stay on the pages, which cause a negative reputation. You can also receive negative social media comments from users on your posts, so be prepared to response to them in a positive way, as they are public, and if you go on the offensive, you’ll end up making things worse.
5. Facebook’s Reputation
Facebook’s existence and popularity took a hit recently due to false news stories being rampantly spread, as well as piracy of information. With these recent developments, Facebook has lost a lot of faith from its users, and it remains to be seen what the long-term impact might be.
Conclusion
Facebook is a free platform that can be used to build your online presence and increase your reach and sales. It’s just not a one-time set it and forget it sort of thing.
Once your business page has been created, you have to ensure that it reaches the desired targeted customers and not just the general public. You have to keep your page updated with fresh content and be responsive regularly to prevent any errors in the future.
There are many benefits of Facebook, along with the same amount of problems. If you use it correctly and strategically, it’ll help you move your business up in the world.
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Hi Ellie, Facebook has changed dramatically for businesses between the pages for businesses and the advertising options. One can no longer do the ads alone successfully without someone who has experience there. The ads used to be easy to do but today it is much more complicated than ever before. (Especially since the Apple privacy issue took effect in the beginning of March!) It is also harder to do business organically on Facebook.
I still believe a business needs a presence there but maybe not spending so much time as they once did there.
I think it’s still a useful tool, but yes, I agree, Lisa. It’s changed quite a bit, and the impact of ads isn’t as effective as it used to be, at least not if you want to do it simply. There are a lot of great tools like Groups, however, that can be valuable if leveraged properly. Thanks for reading!
Even with Facebook’s changed over 2020 Ellie the site remains a helpful place for serving people, making friends and growing business. The genuine key is to detach from numbers and to focus on helping and befriending people in genuine fashion. Doing these things grows your business slowly and steadily. The reach you note becomes epic when you work the platform the right way.
I agree, Ryan. I think Facebook just needs to be approached differently than sites like LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. Facebook Groups, for example, are hugely valuable (if the right person is running them). LinkedIn groups, however, I don’t find a ton of value in. Very limited engagement. Twitter is my favorite tool for interacting and engaging!