Why Your Business Still Needs Facebook
Facebook has quite the story. I've watched it evolve over my career, from this new and exciting platform, to the best thing since sliced bread, and then watched it seemingly stumble when up against the cooler new platforms like Instagram and Snapchat.
I really do believe though, that there is a misconception against some business owners, who just don't see the value in being on Facebook. They think that it doesn't work, or that it won't work for them. They think that no one is using it anymore, and that the newer platforms are getting all the action.
If you're in the B2C industry, you definitely still need to be on Facebook and I am going to tell you why.
Let's start with taking a look at Facebook's history.
2003
Mark Zuckerberg launches facemash.com. He and a small group of Harvard classmates developed this site that compared two students side-by-side -- you got to pick who was hot, and who was not. They populated the site with pictures that were hacked from the Harvard database, and as you can imagine they were met with immediate outrage. Students demanded the site be pulled down, but Mark quickly realized he was on to something. People really liked looking at pictures of their friends online.
2004
Mark registers the domain thefacebook.com and history is made. Naturally, there was an immediate lawsuit. He'd been working on another online database project at Harvard, and the partners of that project accused Mark of stealing their idea to create Facebook. The claim was quietly settled and everyone moved on. In June of that year, Mark received his first investor from the founder of PayPal for $500,000. By the end of the calendar year, one million users were registered.
2009
By this time, Facebook had grown to become the 2nd most visited web property on the planet. In August, they acquired the real-time news aggregator site FriendFeed.
2012
Facebook purchases Instagram for a whopping $1 billion. That same year, Facebook filed for its IPO with an opening value of $104 billion. Mark retained a 22% ownership stake with 57% of the voting shares.
Today, Facebook is neck-and-neck with its own Instagram, and also battles with other social platforms for space like Twitter, Pinterest and Snapchat. Despite the growth of other networks, Facebook continues to achieve a 15% growth year over year, and today has 1.65 billion monthly active users.
Still think you don't need Facebook for your business? Think again.
Who makes the majority of purchases for the household? That's right -- females. Women drive 70-80% of all household expenditures. Even when they aren't necessarily spending money they earned themselves, they are still the ones driving the decisions for the entire household. Women also posses what we call a multiplier effect. Even though they are professionals, they are also caregivers for children, the elderly and pets. This means they are not only making purchases for themselves and their partners, but also their kids, parents and animals.
And what demographic of people represent a huge portion of the users on Facebook? You guessed it -- women. 58% of the entire adult population is on Facebook -- but 77% of women who are online, are on Facebook. That's over 3/4 of women! Where else can you get that kind of reach in today's market?
So if your target audience is mothers, women, children, seniors or animals -- you can be 100% certain that one of the easiest platforms to reach them through is Facebook. Another thing to consider is even if you think you're targeting men, based on the 70-80% stat, you may actually be selling to women. Cars, garage doors, men's fashion even -- you may need to start tailoring your advertising towards women if you want to gain the benefit of their influence.
So how can you start targeting women, or anyone, on Facebook? Easy. You just need to start and make it a priority.
But before you get started, the most important thing you need to understand is how social media marketing for business works. Consumers are on social platforms mainly to connect with friends and family, and also consume content that they're interested in. This could be local news, blogs they follow, and pictures of the latest fashion trends. The options of what a person can choose to see through their news feed are endless, and in order to make it into that feed, you need to be providing value. You need to creating and providing that content your target customer wants to see.
What types of things are your customers interested in? Do they like inspirational quotes, or would they find those cheesy? You must start with deciding on what your customer would perceive as valuable content, and start creating that. This is the type of stuff you can share on your Facebook page. As you grow your fan base, you'll be able to see what types of posts were the most popular.
Setting up your business profile isn't tricky, and Facebook has a great tutorial that will show you everything you need to know. Invite your friends to like your page, just to get started. You'll want to post 3-5 times each day, if possible. I know it might seem like a lot, but the speed at which the news feed moves will warrant this, if you want to gain any traction. Engaging with your customers is also important, and often the most effective way to grow your user base. If you post things people love, they will share it, and that is a major way business pages get new traffic.
Once you've got your page and routine established, you may want to consider trying a small budget and doing some Facebook advertising. There are a few different options, and I recommend either hiring a professional social media manager or investing the time to learn the proper techniques. Facebook has some great resources to teach you about your advertising options, and you can also find some really great tutorials on YouTube. If you do it right, you can achieve a lot with a very reasonable budget.
Don't expect results over night. Implementing and running a Facebook campaign is a long-term plan, and you need to be committed. It will be worth it though, I can assure you of that.
Did you know that the average Facebook user logs in 14 times each day? It seems crazy not to be there.
I really do believe though, that there is a misconception against some business owners, who just don't see the value in being on Facebook. They think that it doesn't work, or that it won't work for them. They think that no one is using it anymore, and that the newer platforms are getting all the action.
If you're in the B2C industry, you definitely still need to be on Facebook and I am going to tell you why.
Let's start with taking a look at Facebook's history.
2003
Mark Zuckerberg launches facemash.com. He and a small group of Harvard classmates developed this site that compared two students side-by-side -- you got to pick who was hot, and who was not. They populated the site with pictures that were hacked from the Harvard database, and as you can imagine they were met with immediate outrage. Students demanded the site be pulled down, but Mark quickly realized he was on to something. People really liked looking at pictures of their friends online.
2004
Mark registers the domain thefacebook.com and history is made. Naturally, there was an immediate lawsuit. He'd been working on another online database project at Harvard, and the partners of that project accused Mark of stealing their idea to create Facebook. The claim was quietly settled and everyone moved on. In June of that year, Mark received his first investor from the founder of PayPal for $500,000. By the end of the calendar year, one million users were registered.
2009
By this time, Facebook had grown to become the 2nd most visited web property on the planet. In August, they acquired the real-time news aggregator site FriendFeed.
2012
Facebook purchases Instagram for a whopping $1 billion. That same year, Facebook filed for its IPO with an opening value of $104 billion. Mark retained a 22% ownership stake with 57% of the voting shares.
Today, Facebook is neck-and-neck with its own Instagram, and also battles with other social platforms for space like Twitter, Pinterest and Snapchat. Despite the growth of other networks, Facebook continues to achieve a 15% growth year over year, and today has 1.65 billion monthly active users.
Still think you don't need Facebook for your business? Think again.
Who makes the majority of purchases for the household? That's right -- females. Women drive 70-80% of all household expenditures. Even when they aren't necessarily spending money they earned themselves, they are still the ones driving the decisions for the entire household. Women also posses what we call a multiplier effect. Even though they are professionals, they are also caregivers for children, the elderly and pets. This means they are not only making purchases for themselves and their partners, but also their kids, parents and animals.
And what demographic of people represent a huge portion of the users on Facebook? You guessed it -- women. 58% of the entire adult population is on Facebook -- but 77% of women who are online, are on Facebook. That's over 3/4 of women! Where else can you get that kind of reach in today's market?
So if your target audience is mothers, women, children, seniors or animals -- you can be 100% certain that one of the easiest platforms to reach them through is Facebook. Another thing to consider is even if you think you're targeting men, based on the 70-80% stat, you may actually be selling to women. Cars, garage doors, men's fashion even -- you may need to start tailoring your advertising towards women if you want to gain the benefit of their influence.
So how can you start targeting women, or anyone, on Facebook? Easy. You just need to start and make it a priority.
But before you get started, the most important thing you need to understand is how social media marketing for business works. Consumers are on social platforms mainly to connect with friends and family, and also consume content that they're interested in. This could be local news, blogs they follow, and pictures of the latest fashion trends. The options of what a person can choose to see through their news feed are endless, and in order to make it into that feed, you need to be providing value. You need to creating and providing that content your target customer wants to see.
What types of things are your customers interested in? Do they like inspirational quotes, or would they find those cheesy? You must start with deciding on what your customer would perceive as valuable content, and start creating that. This is the type of stuff you can share on your Facebook page. As you grow your fan base, you'll be able to see what types of posts were the most popular.
Setting up your business profile isn't tricky, and Facebook has a great tutorial that will show you everything you need to know. Invite your friends to like your page, just to get started. You'll want to post 3-5 times each day, if possible. I know it might seem like a lot, but the speed at which the news feed moves will warrant this, if you want to gain any traction. Engaging with your customers is also important, and often the most effective way to grow your user base. If you post things people love, they will share it, and that is a major way business pages get new traffic.
Once you've got your page and routine established, you may want to consider trying a small budget and doing some Facebook advertising. There are a few different options, and I recommend either hiring a professional social media manager or investing the time to learn the proper techniques. Facebook has some great resources to teach you about your advertising options, and you can also find some really great tutorials on YouTube. If you do it right, you can achieve a lot with a very reasonable budget.
Don't expect results over night. Implementing and running a Facebook campaign is a long-term plan, and you need to be committed. It will be worth it though, I can assure you of that.
Did you know that the average Facebook user logs in 14 times each day? It seems crazy not to be there.
http://goo.gl/VrfO1A