1. Facebook Business is not a social media strategy
Facebook is only part of a social media strategy. Too many companies do "Facebook only" campaigns and loyalty offers. That means your target audience is not even just people-with-Facebook-accounts but people-with-active-Facebook-accounts.
2. Facebook Business is not your website
Every thing you post on Facebook should be available on your website, with space for commentary. Never, ever use Facebook instead of your corporate site. Huge, lazy mistake. Content is valuable, own it, and spread it around.
3. Facebook is not a free channel
Facebook is increasingly pay-to-play with its "Promoted posts". What does that mean? That means it's barely any different from conventional advertising. If you're paying to reach eyeballs, you're buying media space. That makes you an advertiser, not a "Friend", of the people viewing your page. Advertising can of course be effective. But don't kid yourself that you're down-with-the-kidz because you're not. You're a commercial player.
4. Facebook is not a relaxed social refuge
People are sick of "real identity". They have realised the drawbacks of revealing their real identities online, and that's only going to intensify as concerns over government surveillance and censorship increase. Increasingly, social media users crave anonymity and pseudonymity. That doesn't make them any less valuable as consumers. "SydneyGuy67" has the same spend, budget and tastes as "Mark.Lewis.1967".
5. Facebook is not cool
If you're trying to reach younger demographics, Facebook is not cool. Possibly it never was, given it started with university-age students, not even high schoolers. But young people in particularly are fleeing it in droves, because the social media world is their oyster, and nosey aunties and grandmothers aren't on SnapChat and Vine and DeviantArt. Yet.
I'm a business writer and videographer with over a decade of experience in online video. Originally from the UK, I first came to Australia in 1998 and also worked for several years in the Middle East.
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Ling Lee at Digital Marketing and Personal Branding
Lisa, thanks for the great article! However, there are certain points I would like to disagree with based on my observations of Facebook. Firstly, young people are not fleeing Facebook in droves, partly becuase of its 'network' value. It has become a sort of cloud service for heavy users, in regards to photos and vidoes. Moreover, in my opinion, Facebook's continued user experience updates which include gaming capabilities ensure that younger users are continually attracted to the network. Indeed, Facebook has become a sort of milestone in children - almost like a rite of passage. Vine and DevientArt are specialised channels, creating a sort of 'niche' in the internet world.
Greg Tomkins, Director | Web Architect at Top Left Designs
Lisa - I can not agree with you more in the points you have made. Anyone who has been seriously treating FB as their website will most probably be pulling their hair out at why it is not making any real bottom line difference and at the constant frustration of all the changes FB make and how that impacts any use of FB. FB is a tool and just one of many. It's relevance to different businesses will vary and so should it's level of use. Relying on any of these social platforms is fraught with issues as they keep moving the goal posts and the site owners are at their mercy. How can any business possibly hope to develop any form of marketing strategy when the very tool you rely on keeps changing how it operates and how you can use it. The same has recently occurred with a client of mine who also is a top seller on eBay - they just TOLD them that to keep their standing as a top seller they MUST offer free shipping. eBay is notorious for changing the rules and dictating how you use their site for selling products. This is why my client has now decided to be not so dependant on eBay by establishing an eCommerce site that they do have control over and flexibility to adapt to their market.