Asking Facebook vs Asking Google
Recently over the past few years the requests to facebook have steadily increased for suggestions or recommendations on where to buy products.
If you are a business owner, this means that Search Engine Optimization , though still the kingpin of digital marketing is not the only outlet for you to gain a foothold on potential clients online.
The problem that advertisers have is when someone posts to facebook “do you know any contractors in Pottsville, PA that fix damp basements?” their friends are the ones that reply. It’s the online equivalent to shouting to a room of your friends and getting answers from them on who to contract to fix that $25,000 dollar basement project.
How does an advertiser get into that room and give an answer?
Well there are a few ways. The easiest is just to purchase facebook ads. Though this isn’t exactly rocket science, there is some science to it to make sure that you generate a positive ROI.
The other way is to search and if the post is public, you might have a chance on responding. Though the customer might not like the intrusion (I know I wouldn’t if I was asking my friends, and a vendor answered).
Another way would be to friend and tag them in a post. Though that would require you to friend them, and them accepting your request.
All these have some serious downsides.
Another way would be to create your company page, and address whatever you find in your searches with a logical and positive answer.
“Where can I find a a contracter in Pottsville PA to fix damp basements”
A post on your wall would be the right answer to their question. “XYZ contracting specializes in damp basements in the Pottsville, PA area. We have been in business for 30 years and our work is guaranteed to keep your basement dry” . This would allow you to come up for some terms if they decide to search on facebook. I would also suggest posting something like this on your company blog, of course not the same thing, a far more robust version of the same however would be in order.
Typically what happens is their friends turn to Google when a question like that arises. Considering wordpress, if configured properly can be indexed within minutes. There’s a good chance that by the time they post on facebook, you could respond and be in Google before their friends Google the question.
However this takes some effort to stay on top of whatever pops up on Facebook. In other words, this is mostly impossible to keep up with.
So the last bit of advice. The best way to get suggested on Facebook is to do what every business should always do. Provide the best service possible at a reasonable price.
If you have played by that rule, the chances are someone on that facebook page would have suggested you.
The point of this article is that no matter what type of advertising you do, nothing beats word of mouth and word of mouth is not purchased or bought, it’s earned.