Everybody wants one.
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Well, every business owner now who finds out about them wants one (even though they have no idea what benefit it truly will give them).
Why not given it’s the biggest social network in the world and now everybody spends hours, if not every single day glossing over photos and chatting with friends while literally wasting hundreds, if not thousands of hours away. It reminds me sort of like that little box (now big flat screens) we have in the living room that has coined the phrase “couch potato” for many. Will we be saying “office chair potato” moving forward? Or even “walking potato” for all those who are accessing Facebook from their mobile devices?
Well, for the Marketer who doesn’t think it through, this is an “Advertising Expert’s” dream reincarnated online. This is the new landscape for Marketers who had no idea Facebook would gain the ubiquity they have on the Internet in the short period of time.
Now there’s this thing called Facebook Pages where you can build an online presence in a heartbeat. All you need is 25 likes/fans to then claim the facebook url like we did with our new company Ethicus Group. It’s not a bad thing to claim it because by default, they add some funny long id that makes the url like 8 million characters long.
But the question I have for all of you who do want to build them, post everything you write into them and literally house everything in your business on your page is WHY? Seriously, why would you let another company be your drug? If Facebook at some point decides to charge you, what do you do at that juncture? What if they make it difficult for you to control your page or you get banned? What do you do then? Do you also think that Google gives Facebook a higher ranking than your own website? Well, it does if you do NO SEO on on your website (which many fail to do) obviously and since Facebook is very “relevant” for many things gaining it a PR of 10, it will rank higher in many cases.
But again, WHY do you want to do that?
We definitely have created facebook pages for our business there. We use it as a small marketing funnel, but realize most “decision makers” like business owners are not on Facebook to find their next Interactive Marketing Firm. At the same time, there are more and more “interesting” things that you can do with the page.
There are even firms who specialize in customizing your facebook page. For example, an old domain registrar I know of is trying to charge you $40/mo for something you can do yourself.
However, did you know you can do it for free? Here’s one service that helps you make custom facebook pages for free. Here’s an article about how to build custom facebook pages on MASHABLE. This site offers you the ability to create social campaigns and start for free on FB (I’m thinking they’re going to try and hook you in for some paid things later though. So, use your own discretion).
And if you want see some of the cooler things people have done, just do some searches for phrases like “cool custom facebook pages” or even just “facebook pages” or “custom facebook pages” and you’ll sites like this which show you really cool custom facebook pages. Here’s another one.
There are even some cool things you can do beyond the basics. For example, here’s a company that says you can build welcome pages, polls and other functions into your Facebook page. Here’s another site that allows you to even build custom Facebook Tabs.
And if you think I’m blowing smoke up your you know what, check out the stats on how many people are searching for “custom facebook pages” on my Keywords Research site.
However, do question what you’re doing by creating this content on their site. Creating a presence is one thing, but building out your site and content on Facebook is another. Remember that ultimately, Facebook wants to become the biggest publisher on the Internet. Google was in essence the biggest publisher and still is when you truly think about the amazing content Google spits back to you from a search. However, Facebook wants to be the one stop shop of everything. If they do, you will be at their mercy. I would highly recommend thinking through your online strategy if you truly want to place your presence on facebook. You better be comfortable with the fact that this geeky billionaire who has social problems himself may be in control of your online destiny.
I’m not comfortable with that. I’m sure Eduardo Saverin will have a story or two in trusting Mr. Zuckerberg. OR was that just a movie? 🙂
Enjoyed reading your article, Brandon!