Saying Goodbye to Free Facebook Marketing
If you’re a small business owner, chances are good that you’ve at least dabbled with facebook marketing in the past. Much has changed over the last few years, and if you aren’t fully aware of recent algorithm updates, you’ve likely been wasting a lot of time and energy trying to get facebook to work for you.
The free ride from facebook is officially over for businesses. Say goodbye now to the idea that you can start a business page, get a gazillion “likes” and assume that people who’ve liked your page will see your posts in their news feeds. The percentage of facebook fans who actually see a brand’s posts in their news feeds is exponentially small, and decreasing significantly over time.
Of course, there’s one sure way that facebook users will see your business’s posts … you can opt to pay for advertising. And why should advertising on facebook or social media in general be any different than marketing via traditional paid channels? It’s facebook’s prerogative when everything’s said and done, but many small business owners are outraged, and for good reason. Either they’ve put a lot of energy into growing the number of likes on their business pages organically, or they’ve already paid for facebook advertising in order to attract new likes, without knowing that eventually “page likes” would essentially be irrelevant.
Sure, the fact that your business facebook page has a gazillion “likes” may look cool (which can give the impression that your brand is popular) but that’s pretty much all those super cool likes are good for now.
And where does this leave you and your gazillion likes? Unfortunately, your business is in the same boat with so many others … you need to pay facebook if you want to advertise effectively. And regardless if you agree with facebook’s new methods or not, it can’t be denied that paid facebook marketing is extremely effective and a valuable component in your business’s advertising strategy.
So, what’s a small business owner to do? You really have two options. You can either turn your back on facebook entirely (not a particularly good idea) or embrace the idea that paying to advertise on the most popular social media platform is essential for engaging your target audience.
Do you have questions about targeted facebook marketing strategies? Feel free to contact Zen Agency today to discuss how we can help your business thrive in the new facebook environment.
