In 2016, should all businesses have a Facebook page?

[Ria_]

Even a couple of years ago, I would have told people that they don't _need _a Facebook page for their business if they don't plan on posting regularly and don't expect many Likes.

In 2016, has this changed? Is it weird now for a business not to have a Facebook page, even if it's not particularly active? Is it just widely expected now for every business to have a Facebook page? Even if it's just used for brand awareness/visibility or as a popular directory listing simply to occupy more results on the first page for a branded search?

[julie-getonthemap]

I think few people are in the circumstance of EGOL, so it would be best not to follow his lead.

The internet changes so rapidly that you need to be predictive. What is the next big thing? What will Facebook do? In my crystal ball, I think that Facebook will take on Google and Yelp.  They are already trying, but I think they'll get better at it.

So, if Facebook becomes Google, most businesses will want to be there, with a Facebook Page that has a good number of likes and a couple updates a month at least. No need to go overboard, but make sure the page doesn't look abandoned.

Plus, Facebook and the other social sites rank really well on Google. Does a business want to give up that real estate? When someone looks up my company by name in Google they see

• Company website
• Company Yelp page - with 5 Star Rating
• Company LinkedIn Page
• Person LinkedIn Page
• Company Facebook Page - with 5 Star Rating
• Company Angie's List Page
• Some stinky competitor trying to rank for my biz name
• Personal Experts Page
• Company Groupon Page
• Thumbtack Consolidator

Without social, people would see several of my competitors who try to optimize for my name "Get on the Map" and some dull profiles from websites like Manta.

[Ria_]

I think the interesting thing about Facebook is that it's become more than just a social media platform to post. I've been hearing from more people that sometimes when they're on Facebook, and they're looking for a particular business or service, they'll search directly within Facebook itself rather than on Google. Since they are, at that moment, already signed in and actively on Facebook. Simply having an informational Facebook page could be the difference between a potential customer clicking on your name or someone else's from the dropdown or the search results.

I've also been seeing in the past month or so with every client I manage, their Facebook is now showing in their knowledge graph where it wasn't before, and showing their reviews/rating for their Facebook, Yelp, Yell, etc. Google seems to be getting more adept at finding business' social profiles and displaying their individual ratings right there in the SERPs. (Which makes me wonder if they have started using these external ratings as a ranking factor for local, organic or maybe even both. Even Moz Local takes into account your Facebook page.) I sometimes struggle to get clients to obtain or even understand how Google reviews work. Facebook, on the other hand, they find it easier to acquire Facebook reviews, without having to ask or explain to their customers. They already get it.

So beyond looking at Facebook as just a social media platform, are they just as necessary as any other large local directory listing like Yell and Yelp? Even if there is no real social content, does its existence alone still provide value to the user?

[Ria_]

This sounds like to me that it would depend largely on the website/business. Great if you have interesting content, even if it may look a little automated but potentially followers might appreciate being able to keep up to date with the website in this way, but if you're a b2b ecommerce website with no blog in a "boring" industry... would it be better to have a Facebook page to have a place on Facebook but no activity and no followers, rather than a seemingly active Facebook page with no followers?

[EGOL]

and have to disagree with the notion that a company doesn't need to be on social

You are making that statement as a person who sells the service.  I make mine as a person who would have to pay for the service.

Are you willing to guarantee that your work can produce a positive return for EVERY website out there - even ones that you know nothing about?

[BlueCorona]

At the very least, a business owner should install a widget on the backend of their site to enable blog posts and new content to be auto-published to Facebook. It provides no additional effort, but then keeps up social presence. Another easy thing to do is repost good testimonials.

That way, you're frequently updating Facebook, but barely doing any work!

[BlueCorona]

We've read through all the responses, and have to disagree with the notion that a company doesn't need to be on social. Even if you aren't "good" at social or aren't interested in it, you need to be doing it.  Why? If you don't believe any of the trends and expert opinions, you should be doing it for no other reason than Google said so.

One thing that's different in 2016: search engine results are becoming real-time, which means it will rely more on social media for immediate, relevant information. No, social media profiles are not used in the Google Search Algorithm, and as Matt Cutts said in January 2014, “we don’t currently have any signals like that in our web search ranking algorithm.”

However, this is a correlation between sites that have social media profiles and site that are successful: Matt Cutts also said, “Sites that get lots of shares are so good, they likely also earn signals that do affect rankings, such as links.” Said in another way, if you’re investing in quality campaigns on social media and doing well engaging with your audience, you’re also probably doing things that are link worthy.

We all know that in Matt Cutt's head, everything works according to the intention of their rankings. However, if you've ever engaged in SEO, you know that isn't the case. That's why its up to you to get those shares and get that engagement, and the only way to do it is by actively participating. Sure, your website might be fine without social. But think about any company that comes to mind when it comes to being "successful" on the web. With the exception of a few outliers, **they ALL have social media profiles. **

Ignoring social media is like saying you aren't going to a party where 1,000 potential customers will be because you're not good at being social. LEARN TO BE. Yes, I get that the results from social media aren't immediately seen, and are hard to measure, but they're there.

[EGOL]

I receive thousands of visits each month from facebook, reddit, pinterest, stumbleupon and other sites that could be considered to be social media.  Those visits are mostly not high quality, they enter the site and leave quickly.  These are generated with zero effort from me and combined they are a small percentage of total site traffic.

If I started participating in social media and traffic from social would shoot up by 10x or 50x, I don't think that they would increase my revenue very much because they are low quality visits.  To do that would require effort on our part that would pull us away from the work of producing content that pulls high quality traffic.   If we then stopped fanning a fire on social media the traffic from that channel would immediately stop.   However, if we stop making content the traffic from that continues to arrive because it is indexed in search and has demand there.

From that I believe that earning traffic from social is a cost that stops producing when you stop working, but traffic earned from producing content continues as long as that content is viable.  Also, efforts put into article content produce external links on other websites that deliver traffic and help search engine rankings.  Time spent on social does not have that return.

The above is what works for me.  I can produce content that does really well in search and has lasting and often growing value.  Some people can't do that.  At the same time, I know that I would not do well on social and that my time spent there would be a cost rather than an investment.

Most important, is I believe that a person does their best work when they are doing things that are highly motivating and enjoyable.  I like producing content but would not enjoy working to produce a following on social.  I would be like a racehorse pulling a plow on social media  Other people have different talents and social might work well for them.

[Ria_]

I don't know your website, so I don't know your content or audience or anything. But do you not wonder if there's more traffic to be had from social media, which in turn would increase your ad revenue? Or would it not be significant enough ROI?

What's your social traffic like currently? Like, if it's already high proving you have shareable content, would it not be beneficial to boost that traffic through your own channels?

I personally have no passion for social media at all beyond maintaining my personal Twitter, so I'm not trying to sell you on the idea of starting, but I can definitely see the value in it for some businesses. Just not sure if it's expected these days for every business to have a Facebook page even if it's little more than a directory listing rather than a real social platform.

[EGOL]

This isn't an answer or advice.  It is simply my way of thinking.

I don't use social.  We have a website with a lot of traffic and only three people to work on it.  That website is mainly monetized  by ads.

So, should we work on that website and produce content for those thousands of people per day or should we engage people one-on-one on social media?  I think that I should be working for those thousands of people per day, sometimes thousands per hour who visit our website.  Take care of them there, be the best you can be, don't take your eye off of the ball if you are good at your game.

If I write an article and post it on my site it will be engaged by dozens or hundreds or thousands of people every day, every day, every day for years.   Even after I am  dead it will make money for my kids.  If I spend time on social media those posts or comments or whatever disappear or become stale a short time later.  I like spending my time on an investment, not frittering it away.

We can't monetize content that we put on social media, but we can monetize content on our website.  So, why should I build content on social.  Why should I even go there?  The only answer that I can find is if I enjoy social media (which I don't).  I do post on Moz because I enjoy the people and learn from them and that is why I post here - because there is something in it for me.  I am not looking for that on social. I have enough ways to spend my time.

Service providers are always calling me because they want to help me with social.  I think that they are social evangelists who are trying to make money by telling you what you should be doing when they don't know anything about your business or your personality or your resources.  They are only trying to hustle your money.   I don't think that most of them are making a positive return for their clients.  That's just my guess and opinion.

I don't want to participate in social and that is my attitude because I would rather produce content - which makes me good money and so far has been successful.  With that bad attitude about social I think that I would really suck at it and I am right to tell these evangelists "don't bother me".  Instead,  I should do what I like, be happy while I do it, and don't blow money on social because I don't think that money will get a positive return.

[Ria_]

Hi Donald,

Thanks for your response. With the vast majority of businesses I have worked with, I would absolutely recommend Facebook. But if the business can't dedicate much time to maintaining a Facebook page, should one be created anyway as a "placeholder"? Is it not embarrassing to link an infrequently updated Facebook to the website?

Ideally, of course, the Facebook would be updated frequently with the intention of building a following.

[donsilvernail]

Hi Ria,

I would have said even a couple years ago, it is absolutely necessary to have some sort of social media presence. Does it have to be Facebook? No, it should be where your audience resides, however; with a third of the country (if not more) using Facebook everyday, every businesses audience is on Facebook. All my clients are required to have a Facebook page. It is just easier to send traffic back to their websites, it is a way to monetize an audience and lastly create brand loyalty.

In my opinion it is weird to not have a Facebook page, it is my experience that if a page does not exists the business is loosing potential customers, and necessary to create brand awareness.