This is a question asked by most small business owners who are looking to expand their social media presence via their Facebook business page – a.k.a Facebook fan page. It is a very legitimate question and concern when every penny counts. There’s no doubt we would ask ourselves the same question for certain services. However, there are many things which we simply can not do because we lack either experience, necessary tools – or both. For instance, there are many of us who think we can fix our cars ourselves so we can save some money, but the truth is that we can’t fix it as good as a professional mechanic can.
This “can-do-it-myself” attitude becomes more prevalent when it comes to tasks which seem too easy, such as Social Media. Business owners think: we’re not going to pay someone to post updates for us on Facebook; I’m a social person, I like to be on Facebook so how much harder can this be? Our receptionist has some free time and she can manage our Facebook fan page – we’re paying her anyway. While there’s no doubt that some status updates can be posted by an employee who enjoys socializing, there is much more to managing a Facebook page for your business. One needs to first and foremost have a strategy to manage their FB page. Without a strategy, any posts are going to be random, erratic and with no goal in mind. As a result, it will not be effective.
As a company which offers Facebook page management services to businesses and non-profit organizations, it is not a secret that we are biased on this subject. However, consider the case study below and then make your own decision. This is a real example. We’re with-holding the name of the company not only because we have nothing personal against the company, but also because this is not about this or that company, but the process and mentality.
Company A created a Facebook page and then left it without paying much attention to it. A few months later they turned their attention back to their FB page and updated their cover page and even started a print campaign to drive more fans to their page. That is great and I’m sure they spent some money for that, too. And here are what I think were missteps:
- Out of the blue, company A posts a status update notifying people that the drawing for a free service will happen in two days. Then two days later, there was another update that it will happen that afternoon. And then… silence. It’s been 4 days and there hasn’t been any update about the drawing, if it happened, who won, etc. etc. Furthermore, there was no announcement about the drawing to begin with, how people can enter this drawing, terms & conditions, etc. For the benefit of the doubt, I’ll assume they sent out a mailer (postcard, etc.) to let people know about this drawing. However, in our professional opinion, details should’ve been shared on their Facebook page as well and that would’ve created more buzz and become viral.
- A few days ago they also started a Facebook advertising campaign. This add mentioned a free service company A is offering for a limited time. We clicked on the ad and it took us to a Facebook page (subpage of their page) which only had a form for people to sign up for company A’s newsletter and it mentioned nothing about that specific service or offer mentioned in that ad. We truly doubt they got their money’s worth with this ad.
While the reason to not hire a professional to manage their Facebook page must have been to save money, this miss-management actually cost them more money that they thought they saved! Therefore, if you can afford it, our answer to the title of this post is: because it will save you money in the long run and create some return on your investment by managing your branding better.
