There’s no denying its popularity. But is Facebook really the answer to every business’s success?

Many company owners believe that it is and are spending vast financial resources on it without knowing whether it’s working or not.

In reality, only a small percentage of people see the posts on your wall. The early days of Facebook might have been different when businesses could nurture a massive audience quite easily. Today, there’s huge competition and unless you supplement your page activity with paid advertising, you’re unlikely to get the kind of attention you dream about.

Business owners need to ask themselves whether the time and money they are spending on Facebook is delivering what they really want. And that’s the tricky part. What do you want from Facebook?

If it’s to drive more traffic to the company website then it’s a great platform to do this. If it’s to provide a cost-effective way of communicating with customers, again social media is a good way of doing this. But be realistic about potential sales and whether or not either route is going to deliver this.

Don’t set aside budget costs for social media if it’s unlikely to provide a return. Not every business needs to develop global brand awareness or even reach out to its customers on such a huge scale. And those that do might be better off opting for ‘pay to play’ if they want to achieve quick, instant exposure to their target audience.

Facebook is probably not a bad avenue to explore in this respect. Facebook has its users’ data, addresses, interests and social circles because we tell them everything. It can target advertising according to all these personal lifestyle factors effectively.

Facebook adverts are a much better way of measuring sales success as there is tracking throughout to demonstrate how that advert has been responded to.

It really depends on the industry you’re in and whether or not Facebook can offer you anything concrete. If I was talking to a local painter and decorator for example who was looking at Facebook as a business solution my advice would be yes, by all means build a page of likes.

But don’t throw all your energy into this and certainly don’t employ someone to do it. It would be more worthwhile to consider Facebook advertising alongside any attempt to build an audience.

Facebook is like all things. Anybody can create a page, whether or not it works and produces enquiries is another matter. Businesses need to weigh up the benefits available to them and respond appropriately.

I hope you found this article useful. It can be a battle to convince some businesses to embrace social media. But it’s often more of a challenge to get some to reign in their reliance on social media when it’s not delivering results. It’s really a question of realism and understanding what marketing activity works for you and what doesn’t.

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