Is a Facebook page good for business?

With Facebook now considered being the leader and preferred choice of many participating in social media as it seemingly provides a great way for fans to market their business – all may not be ubur positive and a few things should be seriously considered.

 

The Facebook Like value

 

Many businesses race ahead in getting their customers and friends to like their business page – but a Facebook ‘Like’ may not be as good as good for them as they would otherwise think, as its use by many is now for a totally different purpose for which it was first intended.

 

Originally its purpose was to gather data and share interests as well as metric to dictate the display order of posts in the news feed. Now it is used with next to nil or no emotional investment or thought whatsoever resulting in the chances of an individual ‘Like’s’ visibility becoming drastically reduced when compared to more valuable / previous posts in a user’s timeline.

 

It is for this reason that the use of the ‘Like’ facility does not necessarily lead to a way to, monetize social media.

 

So as a business you should ideally stop and ask yourself if you’re placing too much emphasis on the Facebook ‘Like’?

 

Not as many local fans for a business page

 

Depending on what research you read there is a suggestion that a Facebook business page is not as valuable as it was first thought, well at least in regards to the intended end result for which it was created. Yes having a company page provides a direct line to fans and helps customers find information, creating a modicome of brand awareness; but some figures suggest that only 15% of fans of a business page are local to where that business is located.

 

Should that figure be correct serious thought has to be awarded by businesses as to their local marketing actively – perhaps this provides a suitable argument as to the positives for the existence of local informational websites and / or directories and for local business to have a presence within?

 

As to advertising on Facebook, reports suggest that 22% of local businesses have used Facebook ads, and that two thirds of them would use them again.

 

Potential brand damaging messages

 

Companies who have a business page, should be mindful that when people look at their business page it could well be possible that any number of security messages may be displayed such as:-

 

  • Turn off secure browsing?
  • We can’t display this content while you’re viewing Facebook over a secure connection (https)
  • Would you like to temporarily switch to a regular connection (http) to use this app?
  • You will have a secure connection upon your next login.

 

Perhaps not what you’d want your potential customers to see, but as Facebook is getting most users to browse the site securely, your unsecure business landing page has the potential to shoot your brand to pieces – doing more harm than good.

 

The Ban Bot 

 

If you’re in the field as a Facebook application developer, you are no doubt aware that you are at the mercy of Facebook’s ban bot. recent reports say that some businesses were greatly impacted when Facebook’s algorithm deemed their apps not to be good enough and as a result shut them down without any warning.

 

Distrust 

 

A recent study by Netpop has indicated that as many as 8 in 10 social media users feel nervous and uneasy about sharing personal info on social media sites, and those users with privacy concerns rate social sites significantly lower in terms of level of trust about sites sharing info appropriately.

 

Is Facebook usage slowing down?

 

There’s varying views and information out there on the possible suggestion or view that Facebook has peaked, as its growth has seemingly slowed, either due to or as well as the fact of other social sites picking up in the social media market.

 

Since Google+ was launched it’s reported that Facebook has been on lockdown - blocking of ads for G+ profiles.

 

A report this week from Appcelerator indicates that two-thirds of developers surveyed think Google+ can catch Facebook, with 68% thinking that Google’s access to all of its various products is the key.

 

Facebook has proven to be an invaluable tool for plenty of businesses, and this will no doubt continue for the foreseeable future, despite the hype surrounding Google+. So you needn’t worry about all the time money and effort to you have put into it so far.

 

Facebook no doubt is constantly looking to put things into place to that may benefit your business more than what’s already available. Facebook recently announced Skype-powered video calling - This of course could prove to be useful tool in business communication.

 

No forgetting that there’s the unfiltered version of the News Feed. While it’s “like” visibility factor may be limited, it should still be significantly better than it currently is.

 

Facebook techies are also supposedly working on some new ‘like” features that will allow users to share info with their likes. The unfiltered feed will mean more people seeing their friends liking or sharing your content. All this should mean a greater chance that more of your Facebook fans will see more of the updates you publish from your Facebook Page