How "Find Us On Facebook" Can Kill Sales

    • 54 posts
    July 29, 2015 1:13 PM PDT

    “Don’t make the mistake of thinking you’re Facebook’s customer, you’re not – you’re the product,” Bruce Schneier

     

    In the rush to use social media, advertisers are cramming the Facebook logo everywhere.

     

    They post it at the end of TV ads next to their own logo. They put in print ads and on billboards; "Find us on Facebook!" is included in radio commercials.

     

    The invitation is even on store signage, directed at customers who have already found the store in real life.

     

    This is a bad idea.

     

    On the surface, it certainly seems like a good one. After all, millions of us log onto Facebook at least regularly -- why not let them know that the store's got a page?

     

    Why "Find Us On Facebook" Can Backfire

     

    When your customers go to Facebook, you have no control over what they do next. If they are going to search for you on the web, you want them on your own site, not on Facebook.

     

    I once heard Dan Kennedy, during a teleseminar, describe the fundamental difference between a store's website and its Facebook page.

     

    When shoppers land on your web page, he said, they have walked into your store. You control where they go and what they do. You can show them your merchandise, engage them in an online chat, and move them down a funnel that ultimately results in a sale.

     

    When customers are on your website, they see what you want them to see.

     

    Inviting them to Facebook, Kennedy pointed out, is like taking them out your back door into a carnival in the parking lot. There's a puppy doing tricks on one side, crazy political speeches happening on the other side.

     

    You have a booth at the carnival. Your competitors have booths right next to yours.

     

    A customer could go to Facebook to look for you, and spend the afternoon watching cute animal videos instead.

     

    What if they "Like" you on Facebook? Doesn't that give you a chance to communicate with them on their news feeds?

     

    It's not much of a chance -- Facebook's changed their algorithm so that the vast majority of your business page fans will never see your updates unless you pay them. Organically, Adweek reports, a business page post will reach only 2.6% of the page's fans.

     

    There's nothing outrageous about this -- Facebook's a business, they have put lot of money, time, and study into building this platform. It's not your platform, it's theirs.

     

    "Owners make rules, not tenants. And Facebook owns the lot." -- Michael Hyatt

     

    You aren't the customer... you're the product.

     

    Social media marketing may very well deserve a place in the mix. Your customers are likely to spend time on Facebook, and it's helpful to have a presence when they look for you.

     

    Advertising in any mass media -- radio, television, billboards, direct mail, etc -- should drive your prospects to an environment you control. That's your website, not your Facebook page.

     

    Don't send them to the carnival -- send them to the store.


    This post was edited by Rebecca Hunt at December 29, 2020 12:05 PM PST