Including Facebook in your Business Strategy. Worth the Investment?
Social media’s surge in popularity has been nothing to scoff at. Celebrities, sports, companies, and your average joe all have used it or are aware of it one way or another. Facebook has been one of the pioneers in the social media world, quickly becoming the internet behemoth that it is. But from a business standpoint, is investing your time, money, and effort into Facebook actually worth it when you already have website development, design, and SEO best practices in place? We say it depends, and here’s why.
Facebook Has High Costs with Poor Results
Although it may be free and easy to set up a Facebook page for your business, it won’t yield results. Once your page is done, you will need to work tirelessly to attract and retain visitors by constantly uploading posts, shares, and content. And after all that, Facebook’s algorithm only allows 1 to 5 percent of people who have liked your page to see its updates.
If you instead want to throw money at Facebook, you’re free to do so. You would have to purchase Facebook ads which brings traffic from users towards your page while charging you for the engagement. Well okay then, you may think. If I just purchase some ads I should be set, right? Wrong. If you want to expand your digital reach and attract more users, you’ll have to shell out tons of money. According to Forbes, they have done 20 Facebook promotions at varying costs and all the results have been dismal.
Fewer and Fewer People are Using Facebook
Facebook used to be the king of social media. They may still have the most monthly active users; however, figures are steadily declining. In 2014, Facebook stood alone amongst the other eight social media tyrants to see a drop in active users. According to Perficient Digital,
- 50% of users only spend 1-5 hours per week on Facebook
- 43% of users say they’ll use Facebook more in the future (17% drop from 2013)
- 46% of users never click on Facebook ads
- 32% of users believe that promoted Facebook ads shouldn’t exist
Why SEO and Content Marketing is More Effective
Organic Facebook marketing is incredibly slow to build up thus making it very difficult to grow a web presence without investing in ads. And as you know, they tend to provide very little results. By throwing large amounts of money at Facebook, technically you will see results faster than SEO. However, by using SEO and content marketing, it offers less money for more growth while having new and engaging content.
SEO also tends to win in conversion rates – conversion rates with SEO are ten times higher than their social media counterparts. Thanks to content marketing, it makes visitors interested in turn making them stay. Compared to Facebook, where users simply saw an interesting headline or picture, bringing them to your site only to leave instantly. People arriving on your site thanks to SEO tend to be warmer leads. Consumers have an intent when they visit which allows them to stay.
In Conclusion
Facebook tends to favor large brands that are able to throw hundreds of thousands of dollars at promoted ads, likes, and shares. The time, money, and effort required to succeed on the social media tyrant is not a worthwhile return. Content marketing and SEO is the preferred route. It excels in cost effectiveness, sustainability, and results.
Need SEO and Content Marketing Help?
Here at Bower Web Solutions, we have experts in web design, development, SEO, and content marketing. By creating new, exciting, and engaging content while using SEO best practices, we work to drive more consumers to your business in turn gaining more revenue. Contact us today and we’ll get you started on increasing your online presence while increasing user traffic!
