Using Facebook as a website
Posted August 5th, 2009 by Kim Kolb
I have a topic I would like feedback on.
We have a client who does not have a website. They are a bar/restaurant business. They have been in business for a long time.
They send out 4 emails, SMS messages a month and they have a twitter and facebook page.
They do not think that a website is necessary. My question is, as much as I do think a website is necessary, is what are some thoughts from the community?
I think that all their social media and networking would enhance a website, but I may be bias since we also do websites.
(1 vote)
Facebook Profile for a Business versus a Page
Kim Kolb 49 weeks 1 day 19 hours 22 min ago
Hello to my friends who answered a question regarding Facebook used instead of a website.
I am a little frustrated...I can't find the rule in Facebook that says it is a NO NO to use a personal profile for you business. Can anyone lead me in the right direction?
I can't figure out how to ask that question on Facebook and I can't find anyone who has had this issue.
So needless to say this client of mine is determined to use Facebook as their source of getting themselves out there instead of a website. Thanks to all who provided comments as we did give them all the info we know and the added info the commenters gave... Still they insist.
I am concerned that they have over 400 friends and if Facebook decides to policy their violators they will lose their momentum. I want to get the "Official Rule" on creating a Page to maintain your Facebook Business profile.
I appreciate all your help and am excited to learn from some Facebook Experts. :)
Facebook
beehivebits 49 weeks 1 day 12 hours 48 min ago
Kim, Kim, Kim,
It sounds like this client is putting you through so many hoops-ah the joys of customer service-lol!
Anyhow down to business, you client needs a "fan page" to promote their business. This is very different from a personal page and they can have all the FBF (facebook friends) become a fan of their page without any manual approving and there is no limit on the number of fans one can have whereas there is a cap on FBF. I included some text below on the verbage about this-show your client as I got this from Facebook.
From Facebook in regards to Fan pages-
If you need the steps to create a fan page let me know I have whiteper on this I can send you...
PS please add me to your tweeple. I'm trying to link to people I actually talk to and exchange ideas with (I'm @beehivebits )
Have a good one,
Bee ;)
Facebook
Kim Kolb 49 weeks 1 day 3 hours 42 min ago
Hi Bee,
Thanks for pulling that out of Facebook for me. Can you point me to that particular verbiage. I am sure they are going to want to see if for themselves. I appreciate you taking the time to find that.
Sometimes trying to get people to do what you think is best for them is like talking to a wall.. In the end it is their business and they can run it how they see fit. I just believe that they are losing valuable info like visitors to the site, maintaining a loyalty program and email campaigns that mean something.
The tool we have for the CMS is a complete business system. Yet they are just content sending 4 - 5 emails a month and sms messaging to all the people who have to physically complete a card to hand in that then gets entered into their contacts list which then has to get uploaded to campaign monitor. This is truly and "All Me" company. No reciprocal interaction whats so ever.
Thanks again.
Facebook as Fan page p.2
beehivebits 49 weeks 14 hours 3 min 27 sec ago
Hi Kim,
You can click on this link about the benefits of a Facebook fan page. I found the verbiage that I quoted you on a FB faq page.
As for metrics you may want to try the analytics in built inside facebook, the have an app called Lexicon and ads just for fans as well.
You can also check out the FB blog for forums on the differences between a business and personal use, it appears the governance of personal pages are being changed even as I write this to you.
Hope this helps, let me know I have more ammo if you need it :0)
Take care,
Bee
Facebook as a fan
Kim Kolb 49 weeks 3 hours 27 min 4 sec ago
Thanks Bee,
YOU ROCK!! We are going to be letting them know today. Not as a HAHA I told you.. But more for their protection. They have over 300 friends and I would hate for them to go poof in the night. Plus we want them to market themselves correctly.. Either way we are making money on them every month so it is more of a frustration of doing it right versus half a_ _ ed.
thanks again for your help, I appreciate it!
Kim
Good Luck
beehivebits 48 weeks 6 days 20 hours 25 min ago
Kim,
Let me know how the client does with their "Facebook website" and if you can talk them into diversifying and having their presence in other places. This is a cliffhanger-cant wait to here the ending.
Also as one last push why dont you show the client the notes (edited of course) from this forum...
Take care,
Bee
Good Luck
Kim Kolb 48 weeks 6 days 17 hours 51 min ago
Hey Bee,
It is like a drama... I am going to write a blog on the drama. I will keep you posted on the Season Finale (sp).
I appreciate your help.
Would love to see the post ...
RickBurnes 48 weeks 6 days 46 min 5 sec ago
Hi Kim, Please share the post, when you publish it!
I'd love to read it .
Rick
Facebook
Kim Kolb 48 weeks 5 days 22 hours 30 min ago
No pressure, right??
The story is already crazy in itself...
beehivebits 48 weeks 5 days 14 hours 57 min ago
Hi Kim,
no pressure to create the blog, the craziness of the actual story is a case study in client stubborness. I have a client that is a salon owner and they actually ask us What is the Facebook/Twitter and what do they do? So many people have missed the concept of offsite marketing and it's benefits. It took my an entire month to convince the higher ups at my organization to allow smo (social media optimation) to be considered a company goal-but this is true of many traditional marketing and technology firms.
We'll just have to feed them small bites at a time and help them learn the world is spinning towards inbound marketing, no longer can we just tell consumers what they want ( at least not directly :;)
Take Care,
Bee
PS I think I may blog about my stubborn clients too...
Facebook
Kim Kolb 48 weeks 5 days 13 hours 52 min ago
Hey Bee,
Well we have put the bug in their ear about how facebook having the write to take away their profile... They will be calling us this weekend to figure out what they need to do. I will keep you all posted. Thanks for all the wonderful answers to my questions.
Kim
Using Facebook as a website
beehivebits 50 weeks 2 days 12 hours 7 min ago
While Facebook is a great platform and you can customize many elements it should be a supplement to your web presence. Keep in mind that FB sometimes goes down/crashes and not everyone uses that. Some folks prefer Twitter, Digg, or My Space.
My suggestion have your client create a blog with a custom domain name. This blog can have the feeds connected to facebook and the development money for a website will be significantly less. Also a blog builds a community which is what a restaurant would want- loyal followers. Create buzz and offer special coupons and such. But don't rely on FB to be the only web presence out there or else many lost opportunities to market will go to the restaurants using other more developped solutions.
Most "brick and mortar" locations just want to get people through the door so online marketing seems strange to them, convince them that web 2.0 is here to stay- dont forget start a blog ;)
Using Facebook as a website
Kim Kolb 50 weeks 1 day 20 hours 8 min ago
Beehivebits, A blog is a great idea. I never even thought of that. Also Ning would be good as well as it creates a community sense. Thanks for your input.
My first thought
Adrian Chira 50 weeks 3 days 20 hours 24 min ago
My first thought was that they should have a website but then I started to think that may be I am biased because I think about SEO and conversions and so on and everything is linked with a site. For sure some of the arguments that Rick listed make a lot of sense like the risks involved when you use a third party platform (you can get kicked out when the third party is changing their commercial policy) but for a restaurant it may be that their "landing page" is a special offer for dinner and they just have to count the number of customers they get on that day for that offer. It is also very true that the marketing person in me wants to know more about those customers (who they are, what are their needs and so on) and I would like to profile the customers using online tools so next time I am going to tweet about a new offer or an event in that restaurant I will know to whom to send it and how to write it.
I am still thinking that they need a site but some things may work also without one.
Best regards,
Adrian
Website
Kim Kolb 50 weeks 2 days 20 hours 9 min ago
Hi Adrian,
Thanks for your comment.. I love how you try to think outside of what you know.
Thanks
Adrian Chira 49 weeks 5 days 4 hours 8 min ago
Hi Kim,
I appreciate very much the time you take to answer and thank everybody who tries to answer the question you posted. For me it is something that I'll try to copy and become a better "neighbor".
Thanks,
Adrian
Definitely Create a Website!
RickBurnes 51 weeks 5 hours 39 min 24 sec ago
They should absolutely have a website. To convince them of this, there are four related issues that you should raise with them:
(1) How Are They Collecting Leads or Sales? -- To do this they need some sort of conversion/landing page. They can't do this on Twitter (they need to send their visitors to their site from Twitter). And it's hard to do in Facebook.
(2) Control -- How much control do they have over their profiles in Twitter and Facebook? Not much. They can work within the existing platform but that includes a lot of constraints that make it hard to turn either platform into the robust independent marketing machine that your own website would be. An example is calls to action & landing pages: In order to create the best calls to action and landing pages you need to test and iterate on a lot of different versions. This is hard to do in Facebook, and you won't have the complete flexibility to create any type of landing page or call to action.
(3) Search -- How much search traffic are they getting? Maybe some via Facebook and Twitter, but probably not as much as they would get if they built their own blog on their own site and started creating lots of content. With your own site, there's more opportunity to rank in search engines.
(4) Bad Business Decision -- Facebook & Twitter are third parties that don't care about individual small businesses. They could change their terms in a way that negatively impacts your business any day. If you have your own website, that type of change wouldn't hurt you too much. If you don't have a website, your online marketing will essentially come to an end.
Overall, I think that in order to get the most out of online marketing you need to use multiple channels. You can't focus exclusively on one. The real value comes from the interaction between them.
What do other folks think?
Website
Kim Kolb 51 weeks 1 hour 58 min 49 sec ago
Hi Rick,
Thanks for you comments. They enforce what we have been saying to them.. I appreciate you taking the time to answer this.
I know this is late as I just
kern777 4 weeks 9 hours 14 min 20 sec ago
I know this is late as I just joined Hubspot, but maybe for future reference. I think a website even if it is a free one with a blog for specials and FB and/or Twitter to drive traffic. The reason for the website is gain position on local Google, local Yahoo. The website can provide a pre-sell, much like Clayton Makepeace's Online Profits site which at the end says..."more" as a click through to the blog where the offer or speical is located and maybe a frequent customer sign-up. From the blog they can make a reservation, or order their food in advance. FB develops the relationship and Twitter drives the traffic. This way you are covered multiple ways in driving traffic. Don't forget to ad it to Maps as well as local..they are different.