Is Facebook worth the effort?

There are currently 7.8 BILLION people on earth. What do they spend their time doing every day?

Some people work.

Some people play video games.

Some people may even go on a walk or play outside.

But guess what a staggering number of people do every. single. day… Browse their social media feeds.

It’s absurd, really. I mean, there really are so many better things to do than stare at a small 6 in by 2.5 in screen and read lines and lines of things that may or may not be true… aren’t there?

We just can’t help ourselves. There is a psychological attraction that we have with our devices/social media that keeps us coming back day after day.

If you were trying to sell, let’s say, toilet paper, you would probably want to have advertisements wherever your potential customers are hanging out, right? Maybe you’d advertise in local grocery stores, pharmacies, bathrooms, etc. Or if you’re selling dental treatments, you’d probably advertise in the candy isle, at the beauty salon, or maybe even at the local smoke shop. These are places where your potential customers hang out.

If all your customers are on social media… You should probably be there too, right?

Facebook alone claims to have 2.65 BILLION monthly active users. 2.65 BILLION! And that’s just monthly users, they have more than that for sure. That’s almost exactly 1/3 of the entire planet that logs into Facebook every single day.

Let that sink in for a minute.

Break those numbers down to the United States alone, and you have 331 million people. 167.4 million of them are on Facebook. Literally more than half!

And some businesses still think that marketing on social media is a waste of time. smh.

Determining the Value of Facebook Marketing for Your Business

There is a massive market on Facebook.

To be fair, just because the market is large doesn’t necessarily make it valuable.

Tracking and measurement are important to every business, and when you’re deciding whether or not to begin a social media campaign for your company, your decision should rely on measurable metrics.

Consider the following:

In one survey of professional marketers, 95.8% of them ranked Facebook as one of their top 3 most effective tools.

Where other social networks are dominated by young, tech-addicted people with some kind of common denominator, Facebook bridges gaps, and that gives marketers the ability to reach their own audiences within the broader spectrum.

Since people are also voluntarily describing themselves on public profiles, it’s very easy to find hyper-qualified prospects.

The marketing tools are ridiculously powerful.

And they’re also far, far cheaper than any kind of traditional advertising – according to WordStream, the average cost-per-click for Facebook ads across all industries is $1.72 (most industries are even way lower than that!).

Seriously.

It’s the most cost-effective marketing tool that has ever existed.

Tracking and metrics are easy, budgeting is super simple, and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to create and promote a basic ad.

So why are some businesses still reluctant?

The Facebook Skeptics

Let’s be fair, there are some cases in which Facebook might not be a smart business move.

For example, if you sell butter churners to Amish people, you might not want to market that on Facebook.

In most cases, though, a smart social strategy is a low-cost, high-reward undertaking that should be seriously considered.

The skeptics might say things like:

Facebook doesn’t work.

The numbers don’t lie.

Facebook consistently drives 25% of all social referral traffic.

All of it.

Each business’s results are going to be different, which is why tracking is so important, but dismissing Facebook as ineffective without taking a closer look at the numbers is ridiculous.

Usually, there’s some other objection.

Facebook marketing is too time-consuming.

Marketing, in general, takes time and skill, and to use Facebook appropriately, you will need to invest a bit of time.

Do you know what’s actually expensive, though?

Spending time on ineffective marketing techniques that don’t produce returns.

There are 24 hours in a day, and you’re going to use all of them somehow. To free up time for Facebook marketing, cut out something with lower returns.

I don’t know how to use Facebook.

Lots of small business owners and entrepreneurs are doing everything – they’re the CEO, CFO, customer service representative, manufacturer, shipping company… I get it. That’s me.

Marketing is another skill to learn as a solo business owner.

Maybe you can survive handling everything on your own, but if you’re going to grow, you either have to get better as an individual or bring new people onto the team that has skills you don’t.

That’s true of every skill you don’t yet possess.

Either learn, bring on a team member, hire a third party, or reevaluate your business’s future.

The Facebook Heros

Spinning up a Facebook ad is easy on the surface, but making sure that ad produces revenue for you is another ball game entirely. This is where the rubber meets the road.

Years ago the “Gold Rush” of social media happened when advertising became available. Everyone threw all their money at the Zuck and then hoped for the best. This left many many people with a bad taste in their mouths as they watched their money leave and nothing ever come back. Definitely not the way it should be done.

Now in 2020 we have a myriad of tools to help us make sure that our Facebook ads are returning value for us. Here are a few of our favorites:

Custom Landing Pages: Using a landing page builder like Click Funnels helps track specific ad traffic and conversion metrics.
Zapier: We use Zapier to push form conversions to custom spreadsheets to make sure we see the exact names and quantity of people that convert from our ads.
Google Analytics: obviously important to know what kind of traffic you’re getting and where it’s coming from. Along with proper configurations, your GA account can actually be an information powerhouse giving you the knowledge to make very data-driven decisions for your business.
Screen Tracking and Recording: We use an awesome tool called Hotjar to see what traffic is doing once they land on our pages to make sure they’re taking the actions we want them to take!

Make Facebook Great… For Your Business

It’s time to take the reigns on your Facebook presence. Figure it out. You can do it. There are so many resources available to help make your Facebook advertising successful. Now is the time, you can do it. I believe in you! 😉

Of course, hit us up if you need help. It’s why we’re here.