Will Facebook be around in ten years? Is it the right social platform for your business? Has the network already peaked? These are just some of the questions marketers are asking to understand if this channel is on its way out of social media prominence.
It was only last year that Brafton reported Facebook was crowned the popularity queen of 2012. Now there are people and businesses who question the value of having and maintaining a Facebook presence.
Below are four reasons why Facebook is NOT a dead network and why your business should have an active profile on it.
1. It boast the most members
With over 1 billion active global users, Facebook has a huge pool of potential customers your brand can engage with.
Facebook is still important in driving sales and lead generation for businesses. Brafton recently reported that 38 percent of consumers admit to buying products because of social media content published to the network. With over 1 billion active global users, that is a huge pool of potential customers your brand can engage with and turn into loyal consumers.
If you lack a Facebook page, you are giving competitors access to untapped audiences and the chance to establish loyalty with consumers, essentially allowing rivals to capitalize on your missed opportunity.
You might argue that your page doesn’t have a lot of fans and is low on interaction. You are not alone because the majority of business pages have a small fan base. This should not deter you from continuing to manage your page and putting together a successful social media marketing strategy. No matter the size of your business or your target market, there are plenty of tips to help market your page on Facebook.
2. Apps add value
Integration capabilities are another benefit you can take advantage of when you have a Facebook business page. For example, there are plenty of enterprise-friendly applications that you can sync up to your page that offer your customers company information, loyalty programs and promotional opportunities.
3. Contest capabilities
Holding a contest or promotion can quickly increase engagement on the network and lead to a greater reach for your digital content. It is important to note that you want to focus on quality over quantity with these new found Likes. You may see your fans increase, but be wary of people who are just Liking your page for prizes and not because they could be potential consumers.
That is why it is important to have strict goals defined before you begin your promotion. You need to make sure you are reaching your target audience, which can turn into qualified leads. It is also best practice to run contests on a consistent basis to keep your fan base engaged. Running a one-off promotion can lead to a quick spike in Likes and then a quick drop!
Using Facebook as a platform to host contests not only benefits your fans and gives them an incentive to follow you, but also allows your business to gather information for market research.
4. Direct customer communication
The final reason why you should not close your Facebook page is because it offers another outlet to listen to your customers! Earlier this year, I wrote a blog on why social care must be part of your social media strategy and I still believe this is crucial to any campaign.
Having an open line between your customer service team and patrons is important to retaining customers, keeping them happy and establishing loyalty. Not having a page would cut off direct communication with your customers and put your business at a disadvantage. You lose opportunities to fix the problem and show the rest of your audience that you listen and welcome positive or negative feedback, but that you also take action and respond in a timely matter when issues arise.
Your organization can and should provide customer support on any social network, but it is important to keep a presence on Facebook as an outlet for consumers to reach out to your brand.
There are advantages and disadvantages to interacting on any social media network. I recommend you continue to have an active profile on Facebook, but also to make sure your organization is implementing social media strategies for all major networks to best reach your target audience.
You may not want to put all of your eggs in one basket when choosing platforms to manage, but having profiles on all channels makes you accessible to a wider audience in case customers are only on certain sites.
