5 Pros of Facebook for Business (and 5 Cons)

Facebook has been around for as long as many can remember. Because of that, you know there are a lot of positives and negatives of using the platform for your business.

Below are five pros and five counteracting cons to keep in mind when considering building a brand on Facebook.

Pros:

1. A lot of people are on Facebook, and the people over 30 seem to engage the most.
   • This is an especially positive and encouraging fact, especially to those whose brand’s demographics are baby boomers or generation X. While many social media platforms are devoted to the younger generations, Facebook caters much more to the older generations.
2. Facebook is flexible with the types of posts you put out there.
   • On TikTok, you are stuck using video. On Instagram, you have to use some sort of visual. However, just like with Twitter, Facebook allows you to use a variety of post types (images, video, plain text). Plus, with Facebook, you are not tied down by a word limit, so the sky’s the limit.
3. Brands can use Facebook remarketing and retargeting, so you can follow around potential customers/clients.
   • If you are familiar with Google Ads, then you are probably familiar with remarketing. If you do not know what that is, essentially what it means is that, when someone visits your website, you can feed them ads to entice them to come back. In Facebook’s case, you can keep tabs with people who have visited your Facebook page and serve them posts to keep your brand top of mind.
4. You can get all your Facebook friends to like your page.
   • One of the things that makes Facebook especially different is the fact that you can invite your friends to like your page. This is a great way to build your brand right from the beginning, and to guilt trip your friends!
5. You can have Facebook reviews on your page.
   • While this can lead to potential spam or negative reviews, Facebook reviews are a way to help build credibility. Also, you can monitor them, so it helps you avoid all the spammy junk that might show up otherwise.

Cons:

1. The interaction rate of the younger generation is typically a lot lower.
   • If you are trying to get your brand in front of the eyes of many younger people, then Facebook quite frankly is not your best bet. There are already not a whole lot of young people on the platform, and there are even less that really even interact or pay attention to what is posted on there.
2. People get on Facebook to see what is going on with their friends and family, not to see ads and follow companies.
   • Each social media platform has its specialties, and for Facebook, that is allowing you to keep tabs on other people’s lives. What is worse than trying to see which of your friends just got married and you see an ad for an anniversary gift to get them next year?
3. People mindlessly scroll Facebook, which means they could mindlessly scroll past your ad.
   • You could be spending ad dollars for people who do not actually even see your ad. This is why impressions should always be looked at with a grain of salt.
4. You cannot just invite anyone to like your page, so you have to rely on word of mouth and/or ads.
   • Yes, you can invite your friends to like your page, but that’s about it. You cannot follow people to see if they will follow you back like you can do on most other platforms.
5. There is always a risk for spam reviews or false negative reviews for the world to see.
   • You can monitor and keep tabs on reviews all you want, but that does not mean some will not slip through the cracks. Plus, if all your reviews are five stars, people will start to get suspicious and not trust your brand.

So, what’s our takeaway from this? Get on this OG social media platform. While we have found it to be the most difficult to grow organically, you may have better luck than us. Even if not, you are at least getting your name out there on a platform every generation trusts.

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