What’s the best way to promote your business on social media?
Should you blog, email, or just jump wholly into Facebook?
O’Neill said he had just read an article from Ducati, the motorcycle company, explaining why they had decided to end their corporate blog and replace it with a Facebook “page”. O’Neill calls that a bad idea.
“Corporate blogs are good for a number of reasons, most importantly search engine optimization.” He says they're also a cost-effective way to generate fans on your Facebook page.
“Any effective social media marketing strategy involves multiple channels. Yes, Facebook should be one of your company’s primary marketing channels, however killing all other channels and replacing them exclusively with Facebook is not only a bad marketing gimmick but it’s also a great way to kill off your other channels of new Facebook fan acquisition. By embedding your Facebook fan box on your website, you can dramatically increase your Facebook fan base.”
So don't kill your blog to jump on the Facebook bandwagon.
The same blogpost’s comments section contained an unusual number of useful observations. Here are a few:
Bryan said: Let’s not leave out just how unreliable the Facebook platform is: constant changes in the api, apps, privacy settings and the fact that they can pull the plug on the web property they own and a business relies on at will. A good social media [strategy] need be multifaceted and ultimately result in bringing communities and customers closer to the properties that are controlled by the business (both virtual and brick and mortar). This decision seems short sighted and self destructive.
Daniel said: I love facebook for social interactivity and local and niche news, but if I want to learn about a company, I’m not going to facebook, I’m going to google. Stupid, stupid, stupid
Tom: The biggest advantage to corporate blogs that I’ve found is being able to communicate messaging and intelligence fully and thoroughly: Facebook just isn’t the right venue for that.
Nicky: The biggest reason to NOT do this is because you control your blog and the platform where it is hosted. On Facebook you have limited control of the platform that businesses are investing so much time and money into.
Deborah: Not everyone is on Facebook! There are a lot of people out there who are on the Internet, but reticent about joining a social media service for fear of their “personal information” going viral. How do you reach those people in your marketing scheme?
Dennis: Nick, good point on killing the SEO for all those pages. But the good news is that Facebook page should now rank highly. A Facebook fan page should be more than just a blog, too.