With all the chatter over the weekend about the debut of Google Plus, you’d think this article would be about the newest and shiniest social network from the search giant.
But for now, we’ll let the tech types and early adopters play with Google Plus and go ahead and make sure your business is being seen where the people are.
We’re talking 700 million people — that’s the estimated number of Facebook accounts. With those kind of numbers, even Copyblogger couldn’t resist creating a Facebook Page.
You may have been avoiding Facebook due to lack of privacy, lack of time, or an overflow of confusion (all valid reasons). But it still pays to take advantage of the benefits.
The obvious thing Facebook has going for it is numbers.
Facebook has surpassed Google as the most trafficked site in the world. People spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook, and at least a little of that time isn’t Farmville.
That’s 700 billion, with a ‘B’. Your business needs to go where the people are hanging out.
But getting on Facebook isn’t just about the fact that there are a lot of people there.
If you are one of the last holdouts, here are five great reasons to go kicking and screaming onto Facebook.
1. Connection
Facebook allows you to contact your community every day and remind them of your presence.
Your post shows up in the News Feed of your “Likers” and they are given the opportunity to interact with you. You are inviting your target audience into your business every day.
Hint: when I say every day, that’s how often I recommend you post to your Page.
Facebook also allows you to connect with people so they get to know you and your business better.
With those daily connections you build that “know-like-trust” factor which is critical.
2. Authority
Facebook helps you establish yourself as an expert in your field.
You become the funnel of helpful information related to your niche that your community needs.
You hand-feed your community tips, tidbits, newsworthy items, and hot happenings so that when they need your services, you are the first person they think about.
3. Branding
Facebook helps your branding.
The more places you are seen on the web with your consistent brand message, the more you will be remembered. The playing field has been leveled.
The small guys can now look big. Have a professional logo done or professional headshot if you are branding yourself.
Everything about your Facebook Page can add to your brand philosophy. Even the links to other sites that you choose to share will help you brand yourself.
Be mindful of where you are sending your audience.
4. Visibility
With some recent Facebook Page changes, you can now comment on other Pages as your Page and Like other Page’s posts.
If you have no idea what that sentence is about, don’t worry. Just know that this feature will give your Facebook Page much more visibility then it had before and make it easier to participate on Facebook as your business.
As with any online posting, use this new feature wisely.
Make sure you aren’t just spamming other pages — always add value to the discussion.
5. Share-ability
Facebook makes it very easy to pass good content around.
People can share your links, your videos and your pictures. So if you post quality content from your site on your Facebook Page, your community will provide you with valuable digital word-of-mouth advertising.
Some people worry about where to get all this good content to share.
Pull it in from other blogs, Google alerts in your niche, and mix it in with your own content. It doesn’t even have to be directly related to your business.
For a whole lot of tips on how to get the most out of Facebook, see my Ultimate Guide to Facebook Marketing.
Got any more (or better) reasons to jump on Facebook now?
Let’s get at them in the comments.
About the Author: Have I convinced you yet? Are you ready to drink the Kool-aid? If so, I have lots of handy tutorials on how to get started and how to effectively use Facebook posted at the site of my alter ego, Grandma Mary. Grandma makes learning Facebook slightly less scary and a little more fun than your average tutorial. And let me know in the comments if you now think Facebook can help your business.
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Reader Comments (72)
No convincing needed here. Just time and strategy needed now to implement.
Facebook Ads, if you’re into the whole paying for traffic deal, is also handy for drilling right down to your target audience. Thanks for the reminder I need to get my own page up and running soon.
I love Facebook ads too Jon! They have been creeping up in price but they are still valuable for connecting with your perfect audience.
Face-book Ads are a brilliant way of building your fan page. You can get the numbers very quickly with a well targeted campaign which I am sure you know anyway. But… can you then build relationship with the people who “like” your page.
That is the key to the fan page success or failure.
On some of my fan pages the interactivity is low and I have very little influence over my fans. They don’t react to my messages because they made a decision some time ago… and they are not re-choosing their involvement.
Fan Page content is crucial.
Geoff Talbot
Agreed, Jon! Facebook ads are a great way to drive traffic to your Facebook page, especially if you’re just getting started and your customers may not realize that you have a page yet. Hopefully once you get your new fans, you can keep them engaged and interested, and eventually turn them into loyal customers.
Agreed, 100%. Social media – and Facebook especially – used to be something that internet business owners could ignore, but now it’s pretty much mandatory. it’s pretty hard to argue with 700 million users!
Of course, saying that doesn’t mean I’m totally on top of things. I have a fan page up, but it needs some serious work, and that’s on my to-do list for later this month.
There really is no reason not to be on Facebook, the cool think is that its as effective as you want it to be. Google+ does also look exciting, we’ll see how they can both be used differently in the future
Google+ looks interesting for sure! Now to get an invite 🙂
This is spot on. I absolutely hate Facebook, but I recently resolved to create a fan page.
The fact that I’m small potatoes and 50 something people already like the page is good enough for me.
Being on Facebook is a must.
And I love your creative byline. 😉
I love your creative byline.
Thanks Andrea!
These are all valid reasons. I have been reminded again… I hope to get to it shortly.
Anybody know about a good, simple how-to article for setting up this page? (Or maybe it’s so simple that no how-to is needed… If so, excuse my ignorance 🙂 )
Hi Dries – it’s a good time to jump in! Take a look at the Ultimate Guide to Facebook – https://copyblogger.com/ultimate-facebook/ that has some great getting started posts and will walk you through it.
I like how you bring up the idea of branding in this post – especially your thoughts about how creating a Facebook page can make the small guys seem not as small.
I agree that if it looks professional, a well-done Facebook page can make the new or small blogger/business appear more established. However, as a relatively new blogger, I’d planned on waiting until I’d established a higher readership base before creating a Facebook page, partly because I’m dreading the small amount of page ‘likes’ I assume I’ll get at the beginning.
What do you think about this? Should new bloggers wait until they have a certain readership before creating a page, or do you think the amount of page likes doesn’t matter as much as having a Facebook page?
Thanks for the informative post!
I don’t think so Krista. I think that you can also use Facebook to grow your readership. I think it’s ok to have a small number of likes as long as you are connecting with your people. Some of the smaller pages get much more interaction than the big guys because of they way they involve their community. As long as you don’t stress about the number and just worry about the value you deliver, you will grow.
Thanks Andrea! Great point. 🙂
Some really good points here, thanks.
A mistake that I made on Facebook (and to some extent twitter) was not “being there” for my followers. Facebook is a great place to interact and therefore make the connection (as mentioned in the post) but if you don’t interact to people you just look rude (lol).
Now I have realised this I will give more time to facebook and take your advice and let the trail blazers blaze a trail for me to follow on this one and not waste the time trying to figure it out myself.
As always. Great content.
Thanks
Can we have a facebook template option in Studiopres templates without header and with custom css for sizes? Brian ?
I don’t have a website. In fact, I’m just beginning to learn to “Facebook”. I got a contract from WCP to publish my first manuscript (A PROMISE TO KEEP) on my 75th birthday! The only way I know to promote it is through family, friends, and neighbors. I would like to “go kicking and screaming onto Facebook” but I don’t know how!
Good for you B. Elaine! Take a look at the Ultimate Guide to Facebook post – that will get you started: https://copyblogger.com/ultimate-facebook/
“People spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook.”
Wow. That’s insane.
I agree w/ Facebook’s power. FB is currently my 4th best traffic builder.
Jennifer
Nice! Facebook is a very good source of traffic for me also. But you do have to put some effort into which it sounds like you are doing nicely!
Thanks for this info. The ultimate guide is a great resource and I highly suggest everyone read it. We just started a facebook page for our internet site and are working on growing our likes with a free food giveaway. 700 billion minutes per month is huge and whether you like FB or not you should have a page. It’s all about exposure and FB exposure is awesome.
I knew that everybody tells you to open a facebook page for your company, but I never really knew why it can be so powerful. I’m convinced now! :).
Great blog by the way. Great tips on copywriting.
You bag some great points about facebook page here. I know the great benefits of building strong networks online, it ensures success big time. Facebook with it’s huge readership and members happens to make networking easier. Thanks for sharing great tips!
While I’m anxious to see what happens with Google+, for now, I’m still a strong advocate for Facebook. I think it’s an absolute must for most businesses to have a presence here. It’s not always a good fit, but it is for the vast majority. Thanks, Andrea!
Thanks Deb – Google+ looks interesting for sure but it has an uphill battle to conquer the Facebook mountain. Time will tell!
Facebook is the place to be online at the moment, and being a bit of a techie type too, I’m also excited about Google +, but happy to be a manager of a few Facebook Pages. One of them linked to in this comment, which was built to a healthy number over the last few years, me being a late early adopter 🙂
Thanks for these great tips, I’m looking forward to working them over the next three months!
I believe the ability to comment on other pages AS the fan page is a huge advantage. It helps increase the connection and visibility factors you mentioned in the article.
The reason people use Facebook pages is for the more “human feel” to their company. But there was always that ball and chain of how much a fan page can interactive with outside of its own page. Now it can truly bring a more human feel by commenting and liking things outside of the fan page.
I agree, I like the ability to use Facebook more as a Page. But I miss the ability to know who is doing the talking. Especially if you are talking to a logo. Hard to balance!
I’ve been debating whether to start a Facebook Fan Page for my blog and my newsletter. My question is what kind of content should I offer to my fans? That’s why I’ve been hesitant; I don’t want duplicate content, I want supplemental content. I’m a little afraid it’ll add to the work load.
Hi Briana – I think some duplicate content is ok. People may not see your e-mail and may see your Facebook update or vice versa. I think you do need some supplementary content and you can get that from interesting 3rd party articles or news items. Think of yourself as the funnel for all the best information about your niche so that you become the go-to person.
Facebook certainly is an amazing resource for small businesses, but as many have found out, it cannot be treated like you would a standand web page or blog. It’s your customers forum, not yours. This also means that time has to be spent each day checking comments and actually communicating with potential clients. Interactivity is the key. I know of many small business that do this and now get 50% of their new business via Facebook as referrals, the other 50% coming to their website via a search or referral.
However Facebook isn’t perfect. A recent study by Datamation concluded that Facebook was ‘broken for business’, primarily because most of those that follow you, (90%) sees Facebook filtering them out meaning they will not get updates you post on your page.
This appears a major flaw if you want to treat Facebook as a delivery mechanism for your ‘posts’ or replacing email blasts. This agressive filtering could be a big problem for those business that traditionally have a long sales cycle and just want to keep propects informed over 6 or 12 months. Those who are not interacting on your page each week. Facebook will drop updates to these quite quickly it seems. Perhaps the trick is to have an email signup form on Facebook and encourage people to signup as well for a monthly email.
Facebook is really best for your clients who interact with you regularly and as such it works very well for business. Just don’t expect it to work like nornmal online ‘channels’ like email or blog posts…
I agree Kevin – you still need to be using e-mail and other channels to get your message seen. While Facebook drives a lot of traffic for me, I still get the most traffic to a blog post when I send an e-mail out. But Facebook gives you a community platform for people to share and connect with you.
Tom,
Facebook is definitely a place I love to go to see what my family and friends have been up to – am just about to go there after writing this. For B 2 C marketing it can be great, for local tradesmen, for services in localities and for targeting people with a niche interest – all fantastic in terms of advertising – because the ads are just there, and if you need that particular item you click into them, You can also really engage with a local community or group with a particular interest with news updates, stories and pictures.
However, it seems everyone these days has a “daily news is out” blog and want to fill up my social space with their business comments. I usually read 2 posts and if they are in the internet marketing verical just rehashing web news or addressing basic tips I filter the blog posts out of my feed. In fact, there are times when i cant even find my family and friends news for businesses pushing out content about themselves to me on Facebook.
I really think people need to think about their customers if posting daily – if every business posts updates daily they have to be original, engaging or otherwise special to remain in my feed.
Am I unique or do other readers tolerate lots of business posts in their social update feed?
well said Gail. No you are not unique, when fanpages post uninteresting business updates often then I will either unlike them or hide them from my feed. You are so right about the important of brands not just ushing out marketing messages. I think the best approach is a mix of promotional messages and more general fun/entertaining ones that people impulsively interact with and enjoy reading.
I agree Aimee – a mix of posts is best. I think a brand that keeps things really fun within Facebook is Skittles. You don’t always have to have a “marketing message” to stay in the top of people’s minds.
I think it goes back to the “know-like-trust” factor. Facebook is a great place to grow a community of potential clients/customers who get to know, like, and trust you as they interact with you and watch you interact with others. I have had a lot of fun growing a community on my fan page and look forward to finding more ways to lead them to my blog, products, and services.
Great article, Andrea. As always, you are a wonderful source of knowledge and inspiration.
Thanks Sue Ann – you have been doing a wonderful job with your Facebook Page 🙂
Facebook has numbers going for it for sure but the five reasons I’m meant to start a page now could be used for any social media platform you care to mention.
Twitter has 200+ million registered users but there are a lot of dead accounts and a high percentage of churn and all five reasons given here apply to Twitter too.
Post leaves me cold.
Nic, since you blog on Posterous and don’t own your own web presence, this is probably premature for you. Start something on your own real estate and you’ll understand why you want to drive traffic to it from where ever people are.
Nic, I think Facebook is a better space for creating a community than Twitter because of the threaded conversations. Facebook posts have a little more longevity than a Twitter post which can mean a higher chance of being read. But I do agree with you that you can also use any social platform to help you with branding, connection etc. You just have to make a choice and do it well. Facebook has the benefit of the most eyeballs.
Facebook pages gave my blogs a very precious thing – branding! From branding you get trust. From trust you get loyal readers and followers. And from them you will increase your blog authority!
Thank you for the great post Andrea! In fact, I am sharing it on our Facebook Page 🙂
Some things I wish Facebook Pages can do:
1. Tag people who’ve liked us (and not just pages) on our updates
2. Interact with people who’ve liked us like how a profile can (i.e. comment on their wall posts, like their photos, etc.)
Though surely FB has reasons for not allowing this due to possible spam abuse.
I was a late adopter to FB, (Dec 2010) but I have no regrets. I love the interaction I have with my peeps. I was surprised by how chatty people were about the silliest things at first, but now I’m used to it, and regularly have meaningful conversations on FB with those same people too. And when I went on a holiday recently, my likers followed my adventures. I’m not talking family here, but my business contacts. I don’t play golf, so I have to do this kind of social stuff online.
If you don’t have a FB page for your business, it’s not too late. Do it today!
Thanks Marlene! I enjoyed following your travel adventures too!
i agree, just do it. you’ll be surprised to find a long lost college roommate and connect with those you were friends with in high school. i would say my main reason i love fb is to keep up on family living away and being to share insights and pictures with them on a regular basis.
Well to me it is the privacy issue that annoys me. Otherwise FB is fine. I am liking plus a lot since I like the features way better than FB. But I’d still hangout there as a blogger, won’t abandon it altogether.
Thanks for such an article at such a time LOL 🙂
I read somewhere that Facebook is reaching a saturation point. But the rapidly swelling number of Facebook membership entirely rejects that projection.
Thanks for the article!
You have nearly convinced me! I have been really really resistant to joining FB for 2 reasons: security and time. I just don’t know how I could manage it all…I will look into it a bit more now I have read this. Thanks for your advice.
Best wishes,
Natasha.
I used to think that way Natasha, but with a business page, you just keep it strictly business and only disclose what you want. A little personal touch doesn’t hurt though, and helps people know, like and trust you a bit more. That will lead to conversations, builds rapport and eventually leads to sales.
By the way, I don’t do much on the personal side of FB, so I don’t even worry about it much anymore.
Oh, and as far as time goes, that’s in “your” control and not controlled by FB or your Likers.
With 700million users! I need to create my page and take advantage to this. Thanks Andrea!
I have to agree. These are all great points that make Facebook what it is. I remember when it first started, it was a connection network for college students and professors, look at where it got to now. It definitely does do its job if you know how to use it correctly.
Great advice! We definitely have been in the group that waited to start our Facebook page, but now we are trying to embrace the connection to 500 million users 🙂
#4 With some recent Facebook Page changes, you can now comment on other Pages as your Page and Like other Page’s posts. Where will I find this feature?
To comment on other Pages as your Page, you first have to navigate to the other Page while you are logged in as your Page. Then Like the Page, then you will be able to comment or post on their wall as your Page. Hope that helps!
Great artile, Andrea!
“Fan Page” is one of the reasons why Facebook won’t go anywhere despite the arrival of Google’s social networking site. And besides, it would take a lot to get half a billion people to switch on any sites.
By the way, does Google+ have something similar to Facebook fan pages?
In agreement with this wonderful post. On the topic of visibility; if I had a chance to stand on a soapbox and scream to the masses I would share this wisdom; whether using your profile or fan page persona, when you comment on another fan page, make it relevant. Give suggestions, helpful tips or encourage…add content, engage in the conversation. I see so many people saying things that promote themselves when in reality if they just used that time to commit themselves to the conversation, they would receive more interest on their own page.
While I agree that Facebook is a great tool to enhance one’s visibility, it is my opinion that the whole commercialization of social networking tools such as Facebook turns an important portion of users into being reticent to expressing their public liking of too many blogs/websites.
Allow me to elaborate. These days, in order to stand out from the popular sheep-flock emulated behavior, the more internet-educated users only stick to a reduced group of websites which they then evangelize through mediums such as Facebook. It is very difficult to break into their circle which then increases the competitiveness of the internet “market”. One cannot create a blog out of the blue, rather, one has to readily identify a niche and stick to it, identifying the target group and always providing a competitive advantage via several mechanisms such as quality of content or originality. I suppose the dynamics of capitalism has caught up on the blogging community as I have personally seen some extraordinary blogs which resemble the workings of entrepreneurial minds at work.
At the end of the day, I believe that it is this premium segment that brings long-term sustainability to a project such as a blog as opposed to a more mass-volume type focus, with the latter only achieving long-term sustainability by those who established themselves first and have become household brands (e.g the popular freelance writing websites). Hence, the need for establishing a niche and targeting a specific segment becomes an utmost reality even though 700 million people may use the likes of Facebook.
Just my humble thought as a starting blogger.
Thanks for the article, I appreciate your view especially now that I am at the start of my blogging career.
Kind Regards,
Rogelio
Yeah, who cares about how Facebook could give a s&&t about our privacy and personal information. Full speed ahead! They’ve clearly shown we can trust them.
…riiight…
Thanks for the post. Posting every day on my facebook page is one area that I need to improve. Since I have low numbers on it, I don’t go there often. I have a much stronger following on Twitter, but it’s time to even the playing field.
I’m one of those early adopters with a Google+ account and this blog is right. Facebook is still where the people are. Everyone’s already used to Facebook and it’s going to take a few years until people start to adopt to Google’s social website.
Well, I say the trick is to let your facebook followers know that you also have a G+ account and then take it forward from there. I guess the best way to do it is this way: http://goo.gl/CBSRp
Great post! It’s also important to add a call to action within your posts. Do you want them to Like the post? Comment on it? Test guiding your community on the feedback you are looking for.
I am new to copyblogger, this is my first comment so I am not sure if I should also introduce myself or not.
In any case I had a personal Facebook account for years now but up till a 3 months ago I hardly used it. Then a client wanted me to develop some Facebook related application so I started to get involved a bit more. More recently I started to research how I could use it to promote myself and my one-man shop business.
As I was reading the book of Tamar Weinberg about “Marketing on the Social Web” I create a separate fan page but have not done anything with it yet. It has 0 fans.
I am not sure what to put on that page.
You see, programmers like the concept of DRY – Don’t Repeate Yourself – so I am a bit averse of putting the posts from my blog on the Facebook page. Should I create separate content for my Facebook page?
I am not even sure if the page should be called “szabgab” which is the nickname I use for most of my online presence or if I should create a page called “Perl trainer and developer” which would probably be the best description of what I am doing.
20 million resins to go to G+ in the first 3 weeks
Heck, I just put the LT Gov of CA in a circle last night. Now THAT is networking with people
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