Some marketers have been debating whether to continue putting energy into building their website, or to make their company Facebook page the hub and focus of online activity. After all, company Facebook pages are all the rage, and many of them almost replicate web sites.
In my view, making your company Facebook page your main hub is the incorrect approach. First of all, Facebook pages are not currently indexed by Google, so if you put all your eggs in the Facebook basket, then you won’t be attracting organic traffic that is actively searching for product in your category.
Secondly, there’s no doubt Facebook has a big swing right now, but remember Bebo and MySpace…social media sites do come and go. Right now, Google Plus is having a much faster uptake than Facebook did, and I would expect in an incredibly short time, it could be on par with Facebook. This is because Google has done something really clever to keep its content salient: articles will need to be linked back to individual Google Plus profiles, and then double linked from your profile back to the article. The whole +1 phenomenon allows the audience to rate genuine contributors versus spam (though I’m sure the bulk seo agents will find a way to get around this before long). So people who have had a lot of +1′s will be considered more credible, and their articles will rank more highly than the masses, as well as getting a profile picture beside the listing to differentiate them as “quality” links.
This is a clear incentive to rank more highly, and will expediate uptake of Google Plus.
Thirdly, whilst the figures show that in New Zealand, approximately 30% of time on the internet is spent on social media sites,I would venture to say that there are far more Google searches than Facebook searches in a day. Granted Facebook is used by 95% of people who use social media sites, with You Tube at 40% and Twitter at 5%. However Google is still the king for information searching when you are trying to find information on a certain category. I believe people search on Facebook for a particular company or person, rather than generic information. Plus I read a stat recently that said on average only 10% of your friends will see your post. This is because they may not be online when you post it, and they may not scroll back through the last day or two’s activity if they are not a Facebook addict!
Still it’s said that once “in”, people do like to stay within Facebook and resist external links. And the “young” (at 44, I don’t think 20 year olds would say I’m in that category!), prefer to instant message within Facebook, Skype etc rather than email. So it is possible they might err to Facebook searches over Google.
Another reason to keep your Company Facebook page strategy separate from your web page is that there should be a different tone to your Facebook comms than your web site language. Your web site is a little more formal (letter versus email). Your Facebook site is a social site, a place for interacting and entertainment. Your languaging should be quite different – more personal and chatty.
I’ve noticed that You Tube converging on Facebook is gaining momentum – with many bigger brands having their You Tube Channel videos integrated as a tab on Facebook. Salomon Freestyle has a smart You Tube tab.
So what do you think? Do you think your web site should be your official port of call or are you putting all your eggs in Facebook?
PS If you would like to explore getting help with with building your company website, Facebook page / advertising or search engine optimisation, please drop me a line – Rachel.
Tags: company facebook page