I was talking to a small business owner last night. They are in the middle of a very costly redesign of their B2C website and I couldn’t help but ask if they had plans to set up on Facebook as well.
Right now, I have Facebook on the brain. As you may recall I am in the middle of writing a book called Facebook Marketing for Dummies (Wiley) due out at the end of the summer. This book is in collaboration with long time friend Rich Krueger who is the CEO of AboutFaceDigital – an agency devoted to helping companies setup and optimize their marketing efforts on Facebook. Something they call – Facebook Marketing Optimization.
Anyway I found myself thinking – why does any business need a website any more?
With Facebook Fan pages you can build your own website on the Facebook “Platform”. A website that is totally FREE of hosting and server costs, public and indexable on all search engines, with unique URL’s for individual landing pages that you can tune based on if they are Fans or Non Fans, where you can host all your video (so long as it is under 10mb) and upload your product catalog with detailed descriptions (and get feedback from Fans), where you can throw an event or show presentations on a Slideshare ap, run a contest or a survey, host your blog or retweet your status updates (or better yet – just use Facebook instead of Twitter). Oh don’t forget send emails to your Fans for FREE and if you want to buy targeted ads you can do that too.
With all that in your favor – Why would any business need a website anymore?
Tags: Facebook, Social Media, Social networking
Paul,
Smart post and good question. My response: I doubt seriously that more than 10 percent of my clients or potential clients ever visit Facebook. Furthermore, most of them don’t know what it is.
We have to be where our customers are, and most Americans, especially C-level executives who are my customers, aren’t spending much if any time on Facebook.
Now, we can argue about driving them to our Facebook page just as we do our web site. My question: Would they think of a Facebook Page as professional?
Hehe, we have Google sites, we have Yahoo pages, we have tons and tons of FREE tools to create websites.
Even more, with earliest versions of Word, there were templates to create flyers and yet almost noone is using them (except for birthday parties).
Why? Because whenever you want to create something special (and hey, you’re special?), you need an expert that does this little more.
I’m in this business more or less for 15 years. And always offered clients free do it yourself solutions in front – hey, don’t pay me, you can do it yourself. There’s like 5% of them that actually tried it. And came back to me, asking for help.
For some, it might work. For most, it is too complicated and time consuming.
Two immediately come to mind.
My company’s firewall blocks facebook and we can’t be the only ones. Even if you’re not selling b2b do you really want to be not findable when an employee surfs at lunch.
If your only presence is on facebook then you are subject the whims of their user agreements and back ups etc. Sometimes it’s better to pay for and clearly own something.
Now if you’re asking which you want to spend your online marketing budget on, that may be a whole different set of “it depends” answers.
While I agree that there may be a place for Facebook in a marketing mix, particularly if the company is offering products to under-25 consumers, there are several problems using only Facebook.
Company firewalls is just one of them. Moreover, our experience is the same as one commentator noted: At least 90% of the business people we work with think Facebook is how their kids keep in touch with friends.
B2B has enough trouble keeping their sites dynamic, interesting and interactive. They generally lack the resources to start adding other on-line components like Facebook or MySpace to their marketing mix.
To all the above responses, I say one thing: Status quo!
We’re seeing a shift toward the Internet as a place for connections, not destinations. Read my post about the Skittles.com experiment and look at what Scoble is going to be doing with Building43 if you want verification. (He says you won’t even need to visit that site, for it won’t be a website as we typically think of.)
Wait until Facebook opens up and is no longer a walled garden. You’ll see a shift. Sooner or later FB will allow vanity URLs for everyone, not just the social media celebs. (Plus, you can always forward your TLD to your FB public profile.)
The game is changing and the status quo will be past tense passe.
Oh, and this will be good for small businesses and bad for companies like the one I work for, Bizzuka.com.
Great comments here too + with the advent of user-friendly tools that blend blogging and Twitter-like options the non social media geeks might share and look at stuff on things like posterous
One word….
Branding
Facebook controls the branding experience from start to finish. I would suggest a hybrid solution where you can use certain modules of Facebook to build your community hub yet still use your site as the official face for your brand.
I don’t think it needs to be Facebook specifically, but if people thought of their digital presence and not their websites, the web would be a better place.
Someone could have argued similarly about GeoCities back in the day. It was free and lots of people used them. Who ever argued that point would have been just as wrong then as your suggestion is now. Can Facebook be a strong marketing asset? Of course. But I think very few companies would benefit by focusing solely on that (or solely on any other third party platforms for that matter.)
I would say that Facebook is a great social media secondary digital tool for businesses, but has a ways to go to actually replace a company’s main page. There are some other reasons beyond the good ones already brought up in the comments:
- Legalities regarding content, photos, etc with Facebooks terms of service
- Control over your content, backing up, customer databases etc, some of this for companies may still be regarded as confidential
- Flexibility in form and web content that a web page still has over FB
- It is doubtful that FB will be free for companies forever. Many social media sites are in a growth phase and funded by investment, but at some point they are going to have to make a profit, FB included — Businesses on there will likely be the first targets for fees etc.
With that mind of thinking every company can open website via blogspot or wordpress or myspace fan page. But does it look professional? I don t think so. And also who wants to buy something from a company only has facebook fan page. Everybody can open it. The places like myspace, facebok and others only can be traffic suppliers and support places of main website.
That’s completely silly. Surely you have not thought this through.
On Facebook, Facebook controls the branding. You live within their template. Are there many companies that should consider setting up a Facebook presence? Sure. But in addition to, not in place of their own destination. Please. That’s ridiculous.
What is worthy of more serious consideration however, would be integrating their site with Facebook Connect.
http://developers.facebook.com/connect.php
Paul,
The idea that a video podcaster (Scoble) is going to post his videos in places other than his own web site is hardly revolutionary. This is status quo for almost every successful video podcaster I know, in addition to our own video series (since 2003).
If you look at many of the top producers you’ll see that their web page traffic has been historically insignificant compared to the numbers they’re generating on YouTube, iTunes, Facebook, etc. So, it’s merely being pragmatic to focus on these areas. It’s not some fancy new way of looking at things.
There’s no reason to not have a Facebook page (they’re easy, cheap, help build community, etc) but depending on it for one’s business is a risky proposition. Two years ago we had Myspace taking the world by storm, before that it was Friendster… I have no confidence that Facebook won’t be replaced by something else–smarter, better, more intuitive–in two years. That’s about the average shelf-life of a hot new platform. Heck, look at all the complaints re: the recent redesign.
To put all of your web energy resources into FB just seems like a needless gamble. You could end up having a robust sub-site in a social networking ghost town eventually (what good will that do you). Just a little perspective…
My Scoble comment was in reply to commenter Paul Chaney, not the author of this post, Paul Dunay.
Interesting thinking Paul, but having seen the detrimental effects the recent facebook changes have had on brand presences and potential for marketing in facebook (surely massive parts of your book are already redundant?) there is no way I would want to put my brand at the mercy of whatever reactionary changes facebook chooses to make.
I was just briefing one client this morning on all the ways new facebook has affected what we are hoping to achieve.
Last year, we had a whole area of business – app design, development and marketing – taken away because facebook disabled the viral mechanisms that made apps propagate.
As someone working on behalf of several brands on fb, it’s so annoying that they keep moving the goalposts! I would not want to rely on it solely.
The “young people” immersed in FB/social media are tomorrow’s customers/business owners. Businesses should hop on the train now & be part of setting the trend & pace because we are going to get there… and smart forward-thinking businesses of today will reap the benefit of looking ahead… risking in this “thing” the “young people” seem to be wasting their time on. Great post.
Yes, on the initial premise that websites are a bit yesterday…Certainly paying for them is a question mark now…It seems the most traffic I get is from my free Blogger blog…But I think that is because of greater space for good content, with an easy enough interface that content can be added without getting bogged down by technicals…Facebook has been surprisingly good for people finding me who actually already know me…& vice versa…Much of the general audience though is much younger than one might expect…Mostly, I feel that no matter what application you are using, content is king…If it is really really good, it will succeed…Just adding apps without having new content runs the risk of bogging down the beauty of this whole thing…Lately, I’m into the flip magazine thing…Love it! The more original you are with your app, well, that adds to content…I’m all over the place, believing in the don’t put all your eggs in one basket kind of idea…
Control? I keep wondering why no-one has come up with a back up your FB profile/page/group tool. Ditto with anything else on a third party platform or in the cloud. When it goes down or pop, what are you left with?
Reliability? FB is notoriously poor at keeping everything working. At least if it is on your own host or server you actually tend to know what the problems are and when they may be fixed when the server falls over.
Branding and PR? The latest update which approaches Twitteresque is causing ructions amongst FB users. Potentially a company stands to get tarred with the same brush.
Eggs in one basket? Is never a wise strategy! Mirror your domain and your content.
Free? Is it really when you take the above into account?
Facebook can play an intricate part of overall web marketing, but in lieu of a fully branded web presence? I don’t think so.
Social media can be great for branding and driving potential customers and clients to your site. Ultimately a company’s fully branded site is ultimately the place to close (getting your visitor to take action). This is the important step that social media is lacking.
A business’ website is a virtual office or store, Facebook cannot be this.
So, to answer the question: “Who needs a website?”
Everyone how wants a complete presence on the web.
Facebook can play an intricate part of overall web marketing, but in lieu of a fully branded web presence? I don’t think so.
Social media can be great for branding and driving potential customers and clients to your site. Ultimately a company’s fully branded site is ultimately the place to close (getting your visitor to take action). This is the important step that social media is lacking.
A business’ website is a virtual office or store, Facebook cannot be this.
So, to answer the question: “Who needs a website?”
Everyone how wants a complete presence on the web.
My wife and many others I know are not members of facebook and will likely never be members. She is, however, a huge user of the web in general. So, sure, disenfranchise all those non-joiners why don’t you.
I love the conversation and appreciate the question being asked. We all know that social media is revolutionizing and forcing us to reconsider the way consumers and businesses interact. As business managers and leaders, we have to stay up to speed with the channels our customers want to hear from us and evolve our message delivery to support that. That being said, I think that with the tools that exist today, it is still imperative for most companies to maintain a website outside of those services as well. I look forward to watching these systems evolve to better support true brand representation from both the consumer and businesses perspective. It is an interesting and exciting time.
I have a bias opinion on the matter but if I had to live in a world where there were only facebook pages and slightly modified twitter profiles I would be rather bored.
Does your average Joe Plumber need a site? Probably not, and we would be hard pressed to encourage such a thing.
Does Home Depot need a website? Absolutely!
Social sites are more the seasoning of the web not the main course.
If you’re going to say “any business” would that include facebook or other web companies as a business? Obviously they need a site since it is the core offering.
Where do we stop website innovation and only accept the current tools we have? Netscape? AOL? Yahoo? Google? MySpace? Facebook? Twitter. ….next better thing
It’s like tossing in the towel as the US did in 1932 when they closed the US Patent office claiming there was nothing left to invent.
As is today. Done properly business can find new ways to reinvent their brand and bring in new customers. Some of this may be facebook and other social apps but if that is all there is then what sets them apart?
Interesting article. I think that Facebook as a company web site makes a lot of sense. I wonder if there is an application in Facebook that allows for retail transaction.?
If Amazon or Nike or a t-shirt selling company were to Facebook their website, could they still sell their stuff?
@ Lewis – agreed maybe no for your clients but for this small startup it was a very real possibility
@ Dusan – well I hope they come back and ask me to it for them – I guess it is a bit of a David Ogivily technique
@ Beth – good point but you should encourage your company to unblock Social Networks
see my other post on how personal brands count on social networks
http://buzzmarketingfortech.blogspot.com/2009/03/personal-brands-rule-on-social-networks.html
@ Yorkali – good point – branding is a serious concern – perhaps they let you skin your FB page in the future
@ Luke – Tell me about it@ – I had to totally rewrite chap 5 on creating FB pages last weekend
BTW the impact on the book as minimal since the design no longer had a “side column” and a “center column” but the templates behind Fan Pages were EXACTLY the same – its just how you dress them now
@ John D – well said – the audience isn’t as large as the WEB in general – so it is limiting
@ Lindsey – great point – thank you for commenting
I absolutely feel that corporate websites are still a necessity. How is a company/brand to educate the users to make buying decisions or select a service offering?
Facebook is an EXCELLENT way to add a marketing platform and reach new markets, but I don’t think it’s a stand-alone that can fulfill the needs of many brick-and-mortar business who supplement their business online.
I am a HUGE advocate of Facebook and push my online clients to use it, and learn HOW to use it effectively.
Interesting post though
@SocialPMChick
Hi Paul,
Some good points but it has to be rememebered that facebook still have a huge amount of control over what you can and can’t do on a fan page, in terms of branding and the overall look of the page. Your own website has no such constraints and this has to be one of the major factors against resorting to purely facebook etc. SNs have to be blended in to mix but I still feel they are supplementory to a website.
Ridiculous article.
It’s like saying NYC has a subway system so there is no need for cabs.
Paul – interesting take. When I saw the new changes, I thought that if I had not started my own blog yet, I’d probably give Facebook pages a try.
That being said, with the new layout, I can’t even find pages anymore…
I have to echo Beth Robinson. Many large businesses block Facebook at the proxy server because upper management views the site as a giant time waster, and so these employees — who could be searching for your business — they’ll never see your website.
This is the most intelligent and serious discussion I have heard among business people about social networking. It avoids hype on either side.
“Internet presence” is, for me, the most useful concept, encompassing a universally-accessible, business-like website that conveys stability and comes with features like a storefront for info products; an on-site blog that links to youTube videos and other websites; and facebook for reaching my young clients directly, on their own planet.
Thanks for reminding us of the versatility of facebook. I look forward to your publication!
Our company has a FB page because we sell consumer usable products as well as B2B products. However, FB does not allow you to have a shopping cart to sell on line. So we have to bring the prospect back to our main site. But it is definitely a good tool among many to use to promote your business and products.
Hi Paul,
Interesting points, and some good food for thought here. But I think you’re also missing quite a bit – for starters, operating your site on Facebook immediately gives an impression to the user that you are “less than credible”. Everyone knows that FB is a free site, therefore I would be very concerned about buying from a company that only had a presence here and did not operate a professional website. Second, although the population is increasingly moving toward FB, there are many who will most likely never use that space, and who would look down on a business without a traditional online presence.
Besides, when “the next big thing” eventually replaces FB in popularity, where will that leave your site? And your viewers? I certainly wouldn’t bank my entire online presence on one company’s longevity in such a fast-moving industry.
Interesting that Vitamin Water is now tagging their TV spots with their Facebook address, not their corporate URL.
I think that Marlena brought out the most salient point in this discussion. “Facebook” really stands in for all the other places that your brand or product can show up on the web. To rephrase Paul’s question, we should be asking, “Do all the possibilities for an ever-expanding and inter-connected web presence effectively make the traditional website obsolete?”
I’m in agreement with most of the posters on here. Facebook is a great marketing asset, but it can never replace a company’s corporate website. There may be a shift happening, but no matter what, there will still be limitations to what you can do on a Facebook site. Also, there are far too many people who would view that as not being very professional. However, using Facebook as a “brochure” type of site to increase brand awareness is a great idea. It’s like free marketing that has the potential to tap into a part of the market that you may not have been able to reach before. It just needs to link back to a solid corporate site.
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don’t know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Joannah
http://myscones.com
Love FB – but it’s a piece of the pie, not the whole picture. Marketing is most effective when done on several fronts. See simple video explanation on our blog at http://tracetv.wordpress.com/2009/01/25/making-social-networking-work/
Feedback appreciated! Best to all – TR
I was thinking with RSS, there is no need for websites cause all the time, I’m on my Google Reader, Now facebook Wants to own. not gonna happen. people respect Interface & Layout design. People want to be independent.
Don’t be silly. There are plenty of things provided by one’s own website that is simply not provided by a facebook page.
For instance, vanity URLs are currently only available to a select few, and nobody is ever going to remember a URL like http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/Eugene-OR/Eugene-Coffee-Company/55218291775?ref=ts
Plus, not everybody uses facebook, and even of those who do, not everybody is even sure what a page/public profile is.
Search engine optimization is optimal for a personal webpage…
Most of all, the whole reason that companies are expanding out to things like public profiles in the FIRST place, is to have MORE of a presence on the web. Its simply not enough to have one rather static location on the internet, but by no means does that mean you need to take it down.
I could go on, but the long and the short of it is… a web-page is absolutely mandatory.
I just lost my Facebook page – including hundreds of Fans because one of the admins wanted to “Spring Clean” his Facebook account and didn’t realize that Delete did not apply to his account only… and is there a way to recover? nope.. Did Facebook reply to my panic call.. nope..? Was an email sent to all admins notifying about the change… nope.. Was a message sent to “fans”… nope… I think we have to be careful about how excited we get here.. free means free and even if you are paying for ads… Facebook still considers that they are providing a free service, so not much support and is given or committed to.. SAD SAD SAD…we need a Charged/ paid for.. professional version of Facebook with business support and business features
Facebook, like the myriad of other social media sites, are simply just another way for companies to get exposure; which is the key word.
Facebook does NOTHING for SEO and cannot integrate with CRM or email marketing systems. You will still need a server to take business mail (unless you want to use a free service; which is nowhere close to professional). You still need something to process online orders if your industry works that way.
We view social media as a way to funnel people to the sales funnels. Send people to your blog from your Twitter. Take people to a demonstration through your LinkedIn. Have a link to a sales page on Facebook.
We authored a blog post that talks about which social profiles really count:
http://www.jivesystems.com/blog/2009/06/which-social-profiles-really-count/
Hi Paul,
I do agree with you to only a certain extend that Facebook is a good way to market a biz. I have a fan page in here but what good is it when currently my biz is undergoing a new facelift and rebranding and I can’t change the name of my already existing page to the new name? Instead I have to recreate a whole new page and move all my fans (customers) over so that they won’t be backdated on updates?