Is Facebook Still Worth Using to Grow Your Business Online Today?

Now I'm getting this question a lot because there's so much confusion around whether businesses should continue using Facebook. As a social media marketing agency in Palm Desert, we guide local businesses on how to leverage Facebook effectively and get the best results from their social media efforts.

In this article, we discussed the pros and cons of using Facebook for business in 2021. If you're unsure how to use Facebook effectively, partnering with a social media marketing agency in Palm Desert can provide the guidance and expertise needed to succeed.

Why Facebook Still Remains Valuable for Businesses Today

So let's look at the pros about why you should be on Facebook.

1. Understand your target audience.

Facebook is a fantastic platform for data. For local businesses, working with a social media marketing service in Palm Desert helps them understand and utilize this data to better target their audience and improve engagement

A Facebook business page gives you ways to connect and communicate with your audience and Facebook lets you organize and target the right audience for your page. I want you to think of it like a focus group, where the people that are following you are there because they are aware of your business and they want to know more.

While they are expecting to get really interesting and engaging information from your page, you can also collect information about what they are doing on your page through their participation with you. Facebook Insights, give you an amazing amount of information about your fans and what they're doing actually on your page.

So it's great to look at who it is that's there because then you can also make informed marketing decisions. If you ever want to go and market to people, just like those people that already visit your page, Facebook will give you that opportunity to do that. You could also tell a lot about what people are doing just through their different interactions on your page and posts.

You can find out what's engaging them what sort of posts they like. Whether it's a video post,  a link post or whether it's an image post, you can find out from people's comments about whether they like what you're doing or whether they like to see a bit more about what you're doing.

As you can see from the image above, these insights tell us the type of post that has attracted the greatest response. In this case, the 2 posts with the highest engagement are written posts with an image. You can see that posts with attached links were not too popular, so maybe looking at the strategy to make sure all posts are content with an image.

 

2. Build a community on Facebook

Business pages are a great way to bring customers, prospects, and fans together. Whether it’s sharing opinions, leaving reviews, or discussing products they’re interested in, your audience gets a voice. They can also raise any concerns or issues they might have with your business, giving you valuable feedback. A social media marketing firm in Palm Desert can help craft strategies that engage the local community, encourage interaction, and foster lasting loyalty

3. Facebook is good for Search Engine Optimization

Now, why would this be important for you? Well Facebook can drive traffic to your website and boost local SEO. Other actions that are contained in your Facebook page can also give you a little bit of an SEO boost. Utilizing social media marketing services in Palm Desert ensures your posts reach the right audience while improving your online visibility.

Now, one other thing that I do want to mention is having a local business...

What if you're a local business and you've got a physical shop or a physical location where you service a local area? Having your About section filled out on your business page with the correct name, address, and phone number (NAP) and all the details about your business is going to go a long way in helping other citation companies.  Other local listing companies like yellow pages, for instance, and Hotfrog and literally hundreds of different local citation companies out there use the Facebook information to fill their particular website.

So you might discover your local business on a random website you've never heard of before. And you'll be thinking, how did they get my information?

Well, that's because they went to places like Facebook to get that information. So if that information is not there or it's incorrect, then you're going to have an incorrect listing on some other platforms as well.

4.  Get in front of your clients and customers every single day.

One of the biggest advantages of Facebook is that it still has a massive global audience and remains one of the most widely used social media platforms today. Millions of people continue to use Facebook daily to discover businesses, watch videos, join communities, and engage with content across Meta platforms.

While social media has become more competitive over the years, Facebook still offers strong opportunities for businesses through targeted advertising, local community engagement, Facebook Groups, and short-form video content like Reels. Many users continue spending significant time on the platform every day, making it a valuable channel for brand awareness, customer engagement, and digital marketing.

So it's still very important. It's still a very vital place to share information, share news, and share things with friends. You want to make sure that you've still got some content out there, but as I said, you want to pay attention to the recommendations I'm going to give you at the end of this article.

As of today, there are about 2.8 billion people on Facebook. There are a lot of people lurking on there, not as many active users as there used to be, but still, it's a profitable place for you to be playing on and getting in front of the clients that potentially could be there for you.

 Is Facebook Becoming Harder for Businesses to Grow Organically?

So what are the things that you shouldn't be doing? Why shouldn't you be using a Facebook page? Here are the cons for you.

You should not be using a Facebook page if...

1. You are going to use it to sell, sell, sell on your page organically

So people don't want to be sold to all day. Facebook has got a lot of ads as it is already. And if you're going to use your page just to promote your products and services, you're going to find people turn off pretty quick and they won't come back and visit you.

So don't get stuck just thinking, well, what else can I sell?

Make it about you, make it about stories about you. Let people know the real people behind the business of your business.

2. Your target market is not on Facebook

You shouldn't be on Facebook if your market isn't on Facebook. Now I've said in the previous paragraphs that your market is probably on there's there are 2.8 billion people on Facebook, but not everybody's on Facebook. So if you're a niche business or your a local business and your potential customers are not on Facebook and they're not likely to be on Facebook, then it probably makes sense for you not to waste your time getting on there as well.

3. You don't have the resources to be effective on Facebook

Don't build your page up and then make it look like a ghost town. So if you don't have the resources or the ability to keep up the maintenance to actually get in there and keep posts updated and keep active on there, that's probably going to be a bit of a struggle for you to maintain that.

I would recommend that you probably would not be in your best interests to be doing that.

4. You are not willing to pay for results

These days, it's a pay to play platform. If you're going to create and put out information on your posts, there's a fair chance, and I'll show you this in a moment with a case study, that there is not going to be anybody looking at your posts.

It's rare that people visit Facebook pages these days, they rely on the newsfeed to see your posts. And if your post is not appearing in their newsfeed, then they're not going to see it there.

How do you get in the newsfeed?

The best way to do that with a business page these days is to run an ad.  You need to be running ads to get any traction on Facebook these days.

Organic Facebook reach is dead.

You might hear that around lots of sites these days. I want to share with you a little case study about Converse sneakers. You've all heard of them. Below here, you can see how many people like Converse shoes. There are 46+ million people that like the brand Converse shoes. That's a lot of people.

Lots of people over the period of the last 15 years have followed Converse shoes. And that's pretty impressive, but here's what's happening with Converse shoes. In the last six months of 2020, I think they may have posted three or four posts. That's it, organically.

They were organically posting very regularly and consistently nearly every week or every couple of days.  Take a look down below here, you're going to see one of the last posts that they did on October 9, 2020.

And at the time of this article, it's now nearly 8 to 10 weeks later. And you can see that only 202 people liked this video, 59 comments, and 20 shares.

Now in my book, that's about 281 interactions on this post. And now think about this, 281 out of 46 million is extremely low... I can't even tell you what number it is because it's 0.000116 of a percent of engagement on that post. How did I get that number?  All I've done is divide the number of engagement actions divided by the number of people that actually liked the page.

And it's a very low engagement rate. So Converse has said, "why are we wasting our time and effort putting organic stuff up there? We don't need to do that anymore. Let's just get rid of it and let's go and stop wasting our time organically".

Hopefully, you can see in this case study, that this is not just a one-off instance.. it's across the board at Facebook.

What Do I Recommend for Facebook Marketing Today?

So, what would I recommend if you’re getting started or trying to decide whether Facebook is still worth using for your business today? While Facebook marketing has changed significantly over the years, there are still several strong reasons businesses should maintain an active presence on the platform.

1. Run Targeted Facebook & Meta Ads
   If you plan on running ads, then Facebook is still one of the most powerful platforms available. Meta’s advertising system allows businesses to target very specific audiences based on interests, behaviors, location, demographics, and online activity. For many businesses, Facebook and Instagram ads continue to generate strong leads, website traffic, and brand awareness.

2. Keep Your Business Active and Visible
   Even if organic reach is lower than it used to be, it’s still important to keep your Facebook page active. When potential customers visit your page and notice there hasn’t been a post in months or years, it can create the impression that your business is inactive.
   You don’t need to post every day, but maintaining a consistent presence with updates, photos, videos, or Reels helps show that your business is still active and engaged with its audience.

3. Build Trust and Improve Online Visibility
   Facebook still plays an important role in your overall online presence. Keeping your business information updated — including your name, address, phone number, website, and business details — helps strengthen local visibility and brand trust across search engines and online directories.

An optimized Facebook page can also support your broader digital marketing strategy by helping customers discover your business, read reviews, and engage with your content online.

If you're staying on Facebook to keep up with the competition and that's all you're doing it for, stop wasting your time.

Really, seriously think about what else could you be doing rather than spending effort and time on Facebook.

If you like Facebook and want results, then pay for it!

Facebook has changed significantly over the years, and businesses that adapt their strategy to those changes are far more likely to see better results. From Reels and video content to targeted ads and audience engagement, the platform now requires a more strategic approach than ever before.

Hopefully, this has given you some helpful insight into whether Facebook is still worth using for your business today. If you want to improve your Facebook strategy and get better results from your content and advertising, reach out our team in Palm Desert to build a more effective social media marketing approach.