Setting up a Facebook page is a great way to have some kind of Internet presence for free. You can also use social media to actively engage followers; so social media should not be ignored. But, it’s a common misconception that a Facebook page is enough of a web presence. The truth is that you can’t get by with just a Facebook page. Having a company website is still a vital and integral part of your overall marketing plan – here’s why.
1. Limitations: Facebook sets all kinds of limits when it comes to business pages. You can’t set up PDF documents, your videos have to be of a certain length, and you have to abide by the company’s restrictions when it comes to things like contests. Plus, Facebook sometimes shuts down pages for no really good reason, and it takes a few days to convince the company that your page is harmless.
2. Notoriously changing: Facebook changes all the time. The way that your page looks today might not be the way that it looks tomorrow.
3. Ownership: who owns your Facebook page? Not you! Facebook has full and direct ownership over your page and everything that you put on it. If Facebook goes bust tomorrow, your page is gone. If Facebook decides to remove something from your page, your page is gone. See the problem here?
4. Content marketing: setting up a blog can attract new visitors to your website. You can’t set up a blog on Facebook. If you’re not into the idea of blogging, there’s a whole additional side to content marketing: eBooks, downloadable documents, press releases, etc. It’s really tough to run an entire content marketing campaign from Facebook – in fact, it’s impossible.
5. Newsflash: Facebook is really not that popular with certain demographics. If you want to catch young adults or teens, Facebook isn’t the way to do it, and even if Twitter is the way to do it, you still need to have that website!
6. SEO: sure, you can optimize a Facebook business page to some extent, but Google simply doesn’t put as much weight on Facebook business pages as it does on websites. It’s also really hard to find a company’s Facebook page using keywords. If you don’t have SEO, you’re really missing a huge opportunity to effectively market your business online.
The Top Argument
The one thing that I hear the most is, “yeah, but we get most of our traffic through Facebook, so we don’t need a website.” Well, you might get some of your traffic through Facebook, but you can’t tell who is visiting your site using Facebook “impressions.” Try setting up a website with proper SEO and use a solid content marketing plan to market your business. Then, use something like Google Analytics to really see what your traffic looks like.
How do you know that you are getting most of your business through Facebook? You don’t…and even if you get some business through Facebook, wouldn’t it be nice to get additional business by setting up a website in addition to that Facebook page, so you can capture those people that don’t have Facebook, or look for your business using keywords? It would, right?
In Conclusion
As you can see, it doesn’t pay to simply have a Facebook page and call it a day. You do need a website. Sure, websites can cost a lot when you add in the price of a designer and a marketing team, but it’s worth that price. Plus, you’ll be able to tell the world about your upcoming trade show presence a lot more effectively if you have both social media sites (you should include other social media too!), and a website.
We’re here to help you when it comes to all aspects of your business by putting helpful information on our blog – and that includes helping you crate amazing trade show booths. At Blazer Exhibits, custom trade show booths and display booths are what we do best. Call us today to get a free quote, some ideas, and some information about trade show booths. When it comes to display booths, Blazer has you covered!