The perfect marketing channel does not exist. If it did, everyone would be using it … and this blog wouldn’t need to exist.
You have plenty of ways to market your small business including email marketing, pay-per-click ventures, print media, and of course, social media.
Social media marketing is one of the best ways to get your message to the masses. But all platforms are not created equal, and each have their own pros and cons. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be exploring the benefits and drawbacks of three popular social media sites, starting with everyone’s favorite: Facebook.
Why Facebook?
For a site started by a Harvard sophomore and intended to be used to rate the attractiveness of his fellow students, Facebook sure has come a long way.
For starters, it’s the third-most visited website in the world, preceded only by Google and YouTube. Sixty-three percent of Americans over the age of 12 use the platform. The average Facebook user will click on 12 ads per month, and the site’s advertising audience hovers around 2.14 billion people.
In short, Facebook is where many, many cool people hang out. Your small business needs to be hanging out with them. Despite its popularity, however, things aren’t all sunshine and roses in the land that Zuckerberg built.
Let’s look at the pros and cons of marketing on Facebook.
Facebook Marketing Pros
Here are just a few of the benefits:
- Access to a huge audience. As stated above, Facebook is a popular place. No other social media platform offers you the numbers Facebook can.
- Great targeting features. Remember Googling “where to buy a monkey” last month? Facebook remembers. And chances are good that your feed now has more than the usual number of monkeys in it. That’s how great they are at targeting ads to different demographics — and they’ll do it for you, too.
- Connect on a personal level. Even a small business can feel impersonal sometimes. But with Facebook Groups and Facebook Messenger, you can connect directly with your customers and engage in a real-time, two-way dialogue that helps foster familiarity.
- Better-than-average analytics. Without analytics, you have no idea how your marketing campaign is performing. Facebook analytics show you what’s working and what’s not, and offers up detailed insights on the people who are visiting your page.
Facebook Marketing Cons
Despite the rather enticing pros, there are definitely a few downsides to marketing on Facebook.
- It’s hard work. Facebook is not a set-it-and-forget-it marketing strategy. You’ll need to be incredibly responsive to questions, comments and messages, always checking your analytics, providing constant content, engaging with your audience, and more. It can get time consuming, especially if you don’t have a dedicated social media manager.
- You’ll have to shell out some cash. Gone are the days when small businesses could market on Facebook for free. It’s very much a pay-to-play world now. And since Facebook uses a bid system for advertising, primo spots will cost you primo dollars.
- “Social” doesn’t always translate to “nice.” If you’ve spent more than two minutes on Facebook, you’ve probably noticed that not everyone is a lovely ray of sunshine. People whine, moan and complain as much as they do in real life — and some of them feel entitled enough to do it right on your small business’s page. It takes work to preserve your digital reputation.
Is Facebook Marketing Right for Your Small Business?
Now that you’re armed with the pros and cons of marketing on Facebook, the decision is yours. Our advice? Go for it! Ten million advertisers can’t be wrong!
If Facebook isn’t your forte, leave the marketing to Mischa Communications. It’s so simple to get started!