Presence on social media is a priority for many companies. Considering the number of their users, they constitute a huge concentration of potential customers. Apparently low costs and ease of use make small businesses decide to replace a website for a company fanpage on Facebook. Is this a good resolve? It has advantages and disadvantages. That is why it is worth considering before making the right decision.
Advantages of the Facebook fanpage
Creating a Facebook fanpage is very easy and free. You need to complete the basic data, present the services offered and add interesting graphics. The fanpage is ready for action.
Keeping a Facebook profile instead of a website creates opportunities for easy interaction with customers. Some users prefer to contact via Facebook instead of calling or writing official emails.
Low costs and ease of use plead in favour of setting up a Facebook fanpage. However, you should know that having a Facebook page instead of a website has many more disadvantages than advantages.
Limited freedom
The first weakness is that your fanpage belongs to Facebook and depends on its changing rules. Unlike a website, a page will never be yours. A policy violation may result in the company profile being banned, but rebuilding is not always possible. In addition, the presence of the company only on Facebook may cause distrust of some customers. Not everyone uses Facebook and not everyone wants to visit it.
Lack of professionalism
Another difficulty is the fact that the Facebook page does not have its own domain. You can only use the username. This solution limits the positioning of your brand on the Internet. This affects the perception of your business by potential customers. Replacing the website with a company Facebook profile for some customers may mean a lack of professionalism.
Unclear message
Above all, I would like to point out the content presented on Facebook is not very clear. Business page have only a few variants of the appearance. Content publishing options are very limited, so finding specific posts is difficult. Having a website, you can present your offer in any way. Everything depends only on the approach in your case.
Limited and paid coverage
Facebook has built-in algorithms that limit the visibility of the company profile. You can have thousand fans, but your posts will only reach a limited audience. If you want to increase your visibility, you need to attract new audiences and invest in paid campaigns. Unfortunately, buying fans or inviting friends does not generate any profit.
SEO problems
And now the biggest disadvantage of Facebook pages. We can optimize your website for search engines. Due this solution customers can find your business on Google or Bing by entering relevant keywords. Facebook profiles do not have such capabilities.
Is there an optimal solution?
The arguments presented strongly support a website because it offers more profits.
Most people search for specific products or services by entering relevant keywords in Google or Bing search engine. Not everyone wants to visit Facebook and cannot be forced to do it. By limiting yourself only to the company profile, you prevent these people from reaching your offer.
Your own website gives you unlimited possibilities for presenting your offer. A perfect designed website allows your customers to find out a specific product or service and encourages them to buy.
Analysing all the advantages and disadvantages, it turns out that the best results are achieved by running a Facebook profile and a website at the same time.
