“Is Facebook Dead?” — The Real Answer.

The other day, I was driving to the store and I heard a Radio Host make the statement: “Facebook is dead.” and I almost spit my coffee out of my mouth, laughing. Out loud. To myself.
And then I brought this up to my friends, and I’m like “hey guys, do you think Facebook is dead?” and literally 70% of them said yes….and they don’t even use Facebook for business.
So then, that got me thinking…if my non-business owner friends think that Facebook is dead….what do my actual online business owners friends think?

You guys probably think Facebook is dead, right? Especially for business…

That hurts my heart a little bit.
I have a love/hate relationship with Facebook….but it’s certainly not dying anytime soon.
So I wanted to squash that bug right here, right now, my friend.
Quick note: If we’re talking about Organic Reach with Facebook Business pages….then yes, it’s dead. Like really dead….on average only like 1-5% of your humans see your organic posts anymore.
So in short, if you’re only using your Facebook Business page as a place to drop links to your latest blog posts, you’re not going to see a lot of results unless you already have a crazy engaged Facebook fan base. And if that’s the case, then the rest of this blog post will grow your reach EVEN MORE 😉
But honestly, Facebook is SO much more than link dropping…especially when it comes to being a tool for your business and website traffic.
Facebook has said that it will prioritize posts from family and friends and those that create a “meaningful interaction.”…so how do we use that to our advantage as a business????
Well, we take a look at what Facebook has said they will prioritize as meaningful interactions “signals”.

• The average time a viewer spends viewing your content
• If people are sharing and commenting on your post
• If they share a link over Messenger
• If there are multiple comments and replies to comments on a video
• The overall engagement of a post
• The time it’s posted
• If a follower comments or likes a photo or status update
• If a person engages with a brand post that is shared by a friend
• How informative the post is

This means that instead of sharing content that is popular and attention-grabbing, it’s more important to focus on content that is personal and starts a conversation. Your goal is for followers to have active interaction with your posts, not passive interaction.
Soo the secret sauce to using Facebook in 2018: besides JUST sharing content on Facebook….take advantage of the other things Facebook is the bomb dot com at.
and what might those be, you ask?

5 Ways to Take Advantage of Facebook to Grow Your Business

1. Join Facebook Groups!

This has probably been the number #1 reason for my overall business growth in the past 3 years. Facebook groups are an AMAZING way to connect with not only other people in your industry and complementing industries….but also your target audience.
Check out this post on Facebook Groups.
And if you’re looking for a group to join that will help you figure out WTF to do next with your website, join my Facebook Group! (We’d love to have you)

2. The Facebook Pixel

You guys know I’m a huge data and analytics human….so it shouldn’t come to a surprise when I tell you that even if you DON’T want to run Facebook ads right now, you should STILL integrate the Facebook pixel on your website. It gives you an INSANE amount of information about your people….and if you ever do want to run Facebook Ads, you’ll be able to target people perfectly so you’re hitting the right people that WANT YOUR GOODS so you’re not wasting money.
Click here for a step by step tutorial on how to set up your Facebook Pixel to WordPress.
Click here for a step by step tutorial on how to set up your Facebook Pixel to Squarespace.
and if you already have the Facebook pixel installed on your website, download this quick Google Chrome Extension to see if it’s set up right!

3. Create Your Own Facebook Group

It doesn’t matter if your group is only you and 4 other people on your email list, or 10 of your Instagram followers. It really doesn’t. When it comes to starting a Facebook group it’s ALL about quality over quantity. My group has about 75 members in it….but it’s PACKED with value and conversations that HELP people.
I know that metrics are a huge thing in the online world, but when we’re talking about numbers, you have to remember that EACH number is a literal human being. So if your blog post has 10 social media shares, that might not feel like a lot compared to industry guru’s but that’s 10 people that think that your content was the SHIT AND THEY COULDN’T HELP BUT SHARE IT <— and that’s an awesome feeling.
Never underestimate the power of meaningful connections…especially in your own Facebook group.
I love my people.
AND it’s helped me get a whole lot more comfortable on live camera. I do Facebook lives every other week, and I used to get SO nervous but now it’s actually quite comforting because I’m speaking to people I’ve connected and built a relationship with.
Click here to join my Facebook group or click here to read a super helpful post on starting your own Facebook group.

4. Grow Your Email List With Facebook Messenger

This is the newest idea out of them all, but I’ve connected with people that use it and holy shit it works. I haven’t done this for my own business yet, only because I haven’t had the time, but it’s on my to-do list and I think it’s totally worth looking into if you’re looking to bump up your email list.
Read more about using Messenger Bots to Grow Your Email List!

5. Facebook Live

Video is IN, BABYYYYYY — that’s not a surprise to ya, right? Video marketing is blowing up for business, so it’s not new news to let ya know that one amazing way to grow your business and increase website traffic from Facebook is to take advantage of going live.
You can keep it as simple as you’d like…or get super fancy with it, totally up to you.
But if you’re interested here’s a post about using Facebook Live to Grow ya Bizzzzz

Conclusion:

I seriously hope I’ve convinced you, even a little bit, that Facebook is totalllllly not dead. Just like everything else in this crazy life of ours, Facebook is changing and will continue to change, so we just have to be aware and readjust our strategy with it.
What are your thoughts on Facebook? Are you going to give any of the 5 ideas I listed above a shot?