Do I Need a Website (or is Facebook enough)?

Today, most business owners I talk to will tell me they know they should be using some social media. Often times, they (begrudgingly) dabble in Facebook but are typically missing any real strategy there – bar maybe a weak posting schedule.

Platforms like Facebook, when used correctly, can be a great resource for any business. A Facebook page provides quick, standardized view access to vital company information like address, phone number, website, store hours, menu, products, media. So inevitably the question arises, ‘if all that information is on Facebook, do I really need a website?’

The short answer? Yes. It’s 2018.

But really, here’s why…

On-demand answers

The Internet has created the ability and expectation of instant answers to any conceivable question from ‘Hey Google, how far away is the sun?’ to burrowing into IMDB to find out exactly which other movie you know that actress from. While you may not have the revenue of either of those entities, chances are, your customers are no less demanding.

Sure, maybe they’ll have a quick question like, ‘what time do you close?’ that could easily be answered by your Facebook page or Google result. But maybe they have a more in-depth question about how to use your product, where they can purchase it or how to troubleshoot issues they may be experiencing. While you may argue that you can create social media posts around these topics, and that may be a good idea, Facebook is particularly notorious for having poor search capabilities within pages. Because customers want to find this information quickly, often with a short time before a question becomes a frustration, having these answers on an FAQ page on your site is a better choice than buried somewhere in your page’s timeline.

Putting in the time up-front to answer common questions and provide basic information can also help save costs down the line. For every question a customer can answer themselves, that is countless minutes you or your employees do not need to spend on customer service.

Ecommerce

Are there ways to set up ecommerce directly within Facebook? Yes. However… I would argue there are two issues with using a Facebook-only strategy to sell.

First, it’s expensive. Facebook allows users who have a Facebook page (separate from a profile) to set up ecommerce allowing them to sell products directly through Facebook. This is done by utilizing a third-party service like Shopify who, obviously, has to get paid in this process. They will take a monthly fee plus percent-per-transaction, which can add up quickly. While yes, you will also have to pay a transaction fee to a service like PayPal when setting up ecommerce on your website, setting up the store itself, with software like Woocommerce, is free.

Second, I would argue that selling directly on the Facebook platform for most businesses is not the most effective for sales. Unlike a platform such as Pinterest, where consumers are often searching for goods with the intention of making a purchase, Facebook is still seen as a place to connect. Brands would be better off using this platform, including Facebook ads, to drive consumers to rich content that helps build a relationship with the brand, easing them into a sales funnel.

Reach

Search is an increasingly powerful tool. YouTube has been called the world’s most powerful search engine second only to Google itself. If you are showing up above your competition in search, you have the opportunity to steal away their customers or potential customers. If you are showing up higher than your competition for popular industry search terms, you also have the opportunity to snag new customers before they do. While yes, social media pages can show up in search, having a stand-alone website lends a certain amount of credibility to your brand.

Credibility

The ease of crowdsourcing everything from funding to public approval via review sites, has put a wealth of information at our fingertips. Reading about another customer’s positive experience with your company can tip the scales in your favor for a potential customer who is on the fence about purchasing.

Unfortunately, Facebook has done a terrible job at regulating reviews on Facebook pages and business owners often complain of seeing negative reviews from people who have never been clients. Because I believe that a less-than-perfect review standing is better than no reviews at all, I think the best way to combat this review fraud is to create your own ‘brag page’ otherwise known as a testimonial page on your website. There you can control which reviews get posted and it is expected that as the business, you wouldn’t include anything on your ‘home turf’ that would reflect you in a bad light.

Another way to build credibility is to have a dedicated area of your website where potential customers can check out your previous work. So if you have a service-based business like building custom furniture or you sell products like graphic t-shirts, let others see your finished work or even link to UGC that past customers have created.

Domain Email

In order to get your @mydomain.com email address, you need to own your domain. Having a unique domain email address rather than a popular free email service address relays professionalism and security to potential customers.

Public Relations

We all want free press coverage. The best way to increase your business’ chances of getting covered is to present yourself as a credible source of information. It’s also important to make all pertinent info about you easy to find. Consider making a media page or even a complete media kit for journalists to check out impressive stats, other news coverage links and images and logos for your brand.

Remarketing

Facebook ads are arguably the cheapest and most effective way to get in front of your target market. Facebook ads also allow you to utilize data from the Facebook pixel to send targeted ads to people on Facebook who have already visited your site.

Dealing with the pixel can be complicated but the short explanation is Facebook provides a code to every Facebook page that is free to use. That code can then be installed into the code of your website (or via a plugin if you’re using WordPress). It then tags visitors to your site so that when you create a Facebook ad, you have the option of targeting that ad to those Facbeook users who have already visited your page.

Stand Out

Is it too late for you to get a website if you’ve gone all this time without one? No.

Believe it or not, you are not the only business without a website in 2018. In fact, you may not be the only business without a website or at least a good one, in your industry. Therefore, the quicker you get an attractive site up, the better when it comes to winning search results vs. your competition.

Own Your Land

There’s a saying that it’s not a safe bet to build your house on rented land. That is ultimately what you’re doing when you invest all your eggs in the social media basket.

Last week, Facebook announced that it will begin to prioritize content from friends and family that has an active comments section over showing content from brands you like and follow. While it still too early to determine how this will affect brands and pages, one thing is certain – changes like this happen all the time with social media platforms. If you build your entire ‘content’ house on one of these constantly changing platforms, you’re likely to see that house blown down by the big, bad algorithm wolf.