Creating a Facebook page has become synonymous with starting a new business. Every business these days has a Facebook page it is one of the first things you do when starting your business. However the days of free traffic and free advertising are gone on the Facebook platform. Bottom line is, if you want to grow your business through Facebook marketing, you will have to pay for advertising.
As more pages become serious Facebook marketers, you’re battling for a continually smaller space in your audience’s News Feeds. Gone are the days you could drive sales and traffic to websites without resorting to advertising on Facebook. In fact, the demand for impressions, views and clicks is higher than ever, while the supply of News Feed space hasn’t grown to keep up. So while Facebook is free for personal interaction, as a tool to grow your business, Facebook advertising needs to be part of the plan.
Since Facebook has gone public, the site has also gained considerably more small businesses with Facebook pages. Last year, Facebook’s Director of Small Business Dan Levy stated that there were 16 million small businesses with a page on Facebook. Now that total is 30 million and growing. Remember like you, every single business on Facebook wants to reach fans, but those people aren’t spending enough time on Facebook to account for the increased friend connections and pages to like.
Facebook as a public company has to continue to look appealing to shareholders, and as such needs to continue to be a serious advertising platform. Facebook, despite what a lot of marketers like to whine about, is not decreasing reach just to mess with small businesses and non-profits. You need to market on Facebook like it’s 2014, and forget the idea of totally free organic reach. Today’s Facebook marketing requires you to become smarter about targeted advertising to reap the success of being ahead of your competitors.
Likewise, Facebook is a business and as organic reach dropped considerably, you can bet your bottom dollar that paid reach will likely suffer in the future as Facebook attracts more and more advertisers.
So what do you do then? Develop a cross-channel strategy i.e. diversify your plan and start to incorporate marketing on other social channels — still using, but not being completely reliant on Facebook. This is where Integrated Marketing comes into play, growing and developing your business brand across other Social channels alongside your website.
Facebook advertising is changing rapidly and continually, every week something new is being tweaked and rolled out. Today it takes time, effort and money to build and grow your Facebook presence now. Smart business owners integrate Facebook in conjunction now with other social channels — Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Google Plus, or whatever makes the most sense for your business. Brands that build an integrated, targeted cross-channel strategy are the ones that succeed. As per insidefacebook.com – “Using Facebook as a crutch for lead generation or brand notoriety is like building your house directly over a fault line. The landscape has changed and will continue to change — you can either adapt or complain.”
So while there’s still a lot that Facebook can do for your page for free, if you’re looking for in-store sales or conversions, in 2015 you need an integrated marketing plan that is targeted and diverse. Added to this Facebook Marketing rules are ever changing as the platform grows, so staying one step ahead of not only your competition but the ongoing changes is at times a full time job.
Bottom line is, if you want to grow your business through Facebook marketing, you will have to pay for advertising. The good news is you don’t need to do it yourself, you simply decide how you want or need your Facebook Marketing to work for you. We can help you to get back to what you do best and let us handle your Facebook Advertising Campaigns in an organised, structured manner to help grow your brand profile and increase your leads or sales. Check out our available packages here.
Not sure where to start or can’t find what your company needs? Contact us now.
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