Analysis of Facebook for Marketing your Business!

Hello everyone, welcome back!

I’m sure you have all seen and heard recommendations for using social media for promoting or advertising your business. Facebook is probably the most popular choice though I will discuss other social media sites in later posts, Since Facebook now owns Instagram and Whatsapp there might be overlap in features that you may recognise.

Facebook has 2.74 billion monthly active users that’s a huge reach that other traditional mediums struggle to offer this equates to around 59% of the world’s social networking population. 42% of Facebook businesses are based in the suburbs, 33% urban and 25% are in rural areas so no matter where you live, Facebook seems a popular choice!

So with this to consider let’s dive right in!

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Cons of Facebook Marketing

1. Time and Resources.

As with every new strategy that you implement it will take time and resources. Setting up, updating new content, choosing the right ads and generally managing the page responses is a lot of work and learning! If you plan on doing this yourself please bear this in mind! You may also need to hire someone else to your team in order to run the page and plan/create content and campaigns this is an additional cost that you will have to consider with your budget!

2. Costs.

Although using Facebook is free, the advertising isn’t. It’s unlikely to see results straight away so be prepared to pay for different advertising and sponsored posts over a period of time, in the beginning it will be trial and error to see what works best for your targeted base and campaigns which can be frustrating but once you find the best strategy the ROI will improve.

Though in good news the average price for an ad decreased 9% in Q3 2020. Meaning you get slightly more for your money when advertising!

As mentioned above you may also need to hire extra employees or contractors to run your Facebook Social Media pages which is another potential cost.

3. Potential Low Engagement.

Building real engagement through quality content is difficult as mentioned in some of my previous posts, though it is frustrating sometimes by using simple tricks that the social media algorithms are favouring at the time can really help boost your content to other timelines and promote engagement. Don’t just give up and leave your Facebook page empty try and post at regular intervals with different types of content (video, images, gifs, competitions etc.) to see which is the most popular!

It’s important not to give up! If you would like me to do a post on content that works best for Facebook let me know in the comments below!

4. Negative Feedback.

The very nature of Facebook and reviews means you are more likely to come across negative feedback in a public forum. The response you give represents you and your business and will be scrutinised by your audience so it’s crucial to handle every comment, post and review made about you with this in mind!

Also please don’t delete negative genuine comments or complaints as this helps you develop and improve your own services and business model while giving new and existing customers peace of mind that you care!

5. Facebook’s own Reputation.

In the past few years Facebooks reputation has really suffered due to the storing and sharing of large amounts of personal data without user knowledge. This has led to many people abandoning their Facebook profiles and having considerably less trust in the platform. With this in mind consider carefully whether Facebook is the right platform for your consumer base and don’t forget Facebook now own; Whatsapp and Instagram which all use similar practices so bear this in mind.

6. Facebook Ads and Apple Update.

Due to the revelation of Facebook storing user data via cookies Apple have reacted by including a new notification with the latest IOS14 update below.

Facebook claim this can result in 60% fewer website sales from ads if users decline the prompt due to in part the inability to re- target. (reminder ads sent to visitors that didn’t convert the first time)

Overall meaning Ads may not work to the same level they have previously or will not be seen at all. The data collected will not be as accurate this is a huge issue to consider if you are currently using the ads or are about to be. Of course this only applies to Apple users for now but if it becomes standard practice then it could be a major game changer for social media advertising.

The Pros of Facebook Marketing

1. Build Brand Awareness.

Facebook is still the largest social media platform despite the challenges that have arisen in the past few years. You simply cannot find another platform that has the potential to give you exposure to 2.14 billion people!

That’s the number of people Facebook reports can be reached with ads on its platform. It’s an increase of 2.2% (or 45 million users) since Q3 2020. Building Brand Awareness is one of the difficulties in starting/creating a brand in the first place and Facebook can make this easier!

2. User Friendly Format.

Facebook has built the platform to be easy to use and view information, in terms of business pages you have a wealth of information easily available, similar to Google’s business features.

Facebook pages include; opening hours, company history, reviews, awards. Everything a customer needs to know about you! With the easy to use private message box to make it easier to tag up messages and communicate with customers.

Another bonus is the ease of accessibility of using and downloading Facebook which is compatible on pretty much any device, if the users do have the app downloaded that can give you better options in terms of local advertising which if you are based in a rural area you can still grow a large audience local to you!

3. Highly Targeted Adverts.

Facebook targeting is unrivalled due in part to the level of information it stores on users as mentioned above. You can completely tailor every ad you post from the likes of; age, gender, location, demographics, interests etc.

An average a Facebook user clicks on 12 ads per month, that’s one roughly every 2 days. Remember not all ads require a click to be effective either, so the potential reach is huge. With data showing that Facebook ads are engaged with by users on a monthly basis and are not just ignored.

The PPC or Pay Per Click has lowered and you aren’t fighting for key words or space in the same way as Google, you can still be outbid for ads but you have the opportunity to use precise location and times to suit your customers or users.

While PPC helps at a later stage in the buyer’s journey, Facebook is fantastic for the Awareness and Research stages of buying.

4. In-Depth Analytics.

In the same way as Google Analytics, Facebook has it’s own analytical tool ‘Facebook Insights’ if you would like me to do a post on Facebook Analytics please let me know!

You can get insights into; likes, traffic sources and engagement rates etc. These can be monitored at any time and like the rest of Facebook is designed to be easy to manage and view.

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts it’s so crucial for you and your team to both monitor and manage all of your Marketing tools and ads regularly no matter what platform you are using. This can save you money and help develop strategies and products that can improve your brand and make you more profit!

5. Build Your Community.

With a Facebook business page you have your own platform for your customers or users to interact with each other, leaving reviews or messaging you direct thus ultimately growing your following. In previous posts I have mentioned building your community as one of the keys to developing a strong brand, with Facebook this is much easier.

With a website people have to either search for you or find you through friends etc. The beauty of Facebook is that people are checking and using the platform on a daily sometimes hourly basis anyway so if you have a presence there generating conversations and a network is much easier than purely relying on a website.

You can of course share your website and boost your traffic through your Facebook page to increase online visits!

6. Content Freedom.

Facebook has developed it’s platform to match it’s competitors offering; live streams, video, posts, watch, trending and stories.

A relatively new feature Watch has more than 1.25 billion people visit every month. If you have more than 5,000 followers try creating this kind of content for the video tab.

People engage with different types of content think more than just written posts or photos, try new features and creative ways it will stand out!

7. Shop Functions.

The Facebook shop tool is an often underused feature, it gives the opportunity to upload products and services to your Shop feature and tag onto your product statuses. It’s an easy way to show users and consumers exactly which products/services without having to link each to a status.

With 18.3% of U.S. adults making a purchase through Facebook in the last year compared to 11.1% for Instagram and 2.9% for Pinterest, you should definitely consider taking advantage of the platform to grow your business.

It’s also a great way to subtly promote products on a post that isn’t promotional!

Facebook clearly is a great tool to use if you have or are growing a business but consider the cons carefully to make sure that it is right for you! With 47% of Facebook’s ad revenue coming from the U.S. and Canada with the vast majority of users living outside the U.S. If you sell products internationally or offer a digital product/service there is a huge untapped potential here for you to reach ad markets without a lot of competition!

Do you use or have used Facebook Marketing? What do you think? Please Leave a comment below!

Thanks for Reading, Take Care!