by Josh Walker

by Josh Walker

Founder

Josh Walker is the founder of Recon Media. He is a 101st Airborne combat veteran and peace advocate. He loves learning new things, breaking rules, and enjoying great bourbon.
In fact, it’s far from it. Facebook is merely a tool. A vessel for your message. Take this blog post, for example. It’s just another channel for our team to share insights and tips with our audience. But it’s not the grand master selling tool by any means.

Facebook is always adjusting their display and search algorithms, and this affects what you do on that platform. Twitter is the same. Instagram. Snapchat. Google. Youtube. All of these companies update their platforms to 1) stay fresh, and 2) ensure they’re delivering the best user experience to the end user.

When we look at the checkboxes on a small business or startup marketing to-do list, it often looks something like this:

  • Choose a name for the business
  • Set up a Facebook business page and start posting
  • Use Wix or Squarespace to make a free/cheap website
  • Get frustrated when the phone isn’t ringing

When you launch a new venture and blast it out on Facebook for all your contacts to see, you may get 25% of them to Like the new page. That really doesn’t mean much anymore. Even after they’ve liked your page, the Facebook algorithm will favor certain types of content over yours. What can you do to overcome this?

Start by adding a few more items to your to-do list:

  • Hire someone to build you a killer website
  • Start blogging about your industry and product or service
  • Get Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat accounts
  • Use a tool like Hootsuite to schedule your content
  • Run a paid Facebook ad campaign
  • Drive traffic to your website, not to your Facebook page

The last item on that list is critical. Think about it: Facebook is a great place to hang out, but it’s terrible for actually getting anything done.

Facebook is like the food court at the mall. If someone came by your table to sell you a new watch or a pair of shoes, you’re not likely to pay much attention. The environment isn’t conducive to sales, and you’re psychologically not in a shopping mode. You’re satisfying your desire for food.

Next, you walk into the jewelry store and notice how calm and inviting it is. There’s a nice scent in the air, and all the staff is professional and friendly.

Your brain isn’t thinking about food at this point, or what the couple at the table next to you was complaining about. Your brain is thinking about 1) what you can afford, 2) why you need to buy that set of earrings, and 3) what outfits will coordinate with the set.

Business websites are the online version of the retail store. Facebook is the food court.

If you only do one thing today to improve your marketing efforts and brand awareness, take a good hard look at your website. In addition to a focused blog, you can have a set of lead-capture forms, incentives, downloads, VIP content, and so much more. These are things you just can’t do with Facebook, because, well, Facebook is Facebook.

If you’d like, we’d be happy audit your website for you and email you a list of recommended action steps to improve it.

No sales stuff, either. You know where to find us ; )