No More Free Facebook. What Are You Prepared to Do Now?

One of my favorite movie characters of all time is Jim Malone, the hardened, straight-shooting veteran Chicago cop played by Sean Connery in The Untouchables.

I’ve altered part of his memorable conversation with Eliot Ness (Kevin Costner) in the church, predicting how it would have gone if they were discussing Facebook marketing instead of trying to nail Al Capone.

Malone: You said you want to use Facebook to grow your business. Do you really want to do it? You see, what I’m saying is, what are you prepared to do?
Ness: Anything that won’t cost me money.
Malone: And then what are you prepared to do? If you open the can on these worms, you must be prepared to pay. Because they’re not gonna give it away anymore.

When Facebook launched fan pages in 2007, small business owners and Fortune 500 execs alike did cartwheels, viewing Facebook as a marketing free-for-all.

“Just get as many people as possible to like our page and spam the hell out of them” was the most popular, albeit shortsighted approach to Facebook marketing.

But Facebook quickly started to put the kibosh on the pipe dream of “free.” They got rid of those nifty Facebook landing pages that we used to attract new visitors.

Then Facebook started to control how many of our fans could actually see the content that they expressed an interest in seeing by liking our pages. Two years ago, about 16 percent of your fans would typically see your content.

Today, after a highly publicized initial public offering and pressure from investors to create revenue, that number is down to about one or two percent.

Some expect free organic reach to completely disappear as they clear space for the paid ads.

If you want to reach more people and hone in on your company’s specific target audience, you need to pay. Yes, that includes your own fans.

Acquiring fans is now more about making paid advertising more effective. Debate all you want about the fairness of the situation, but that’s the situation.

This begs the question from Malone… What are you prepared to do?

Accept the new Facebook reality. It’s no longer a free distribution platform. It’s a paid advertising platform.

You probably spent years and invested a lot of resources into growing your fan base. Now, you have to pay to reach them.

First, determine how important Facebook really is to the success of your business. Is it a must-have or nice-to-have?

Second, take a hard look at those “fans.”

Are they likely to share your content and/or do business with you? Are they friends and family who did you a favor by liking your page? Are they fellow business owners who liked your page because you liked their page?

In other words, how many of your 500 fans are truly fans?

Most businesses should probably maintain a Facebook page. People still spend a lot of time on Facebook and a brand page makes it easier for them to find you.

How much time you devote to it on a daily or weekly basis should be dictated by the business value it provides.

If you want to continue to engage your Facebook fans, advertising is clearly the best option. That means you have to (gasp) pay for it.

While Facebook advertising will get more expensive as more people jump on the bandwagon, advertising is relatively inexpensive at this point.

More importantly, the granular targeting makes it cost-effective and the analytics make it accountable. It’s a good time to test and experiment.

Instead of immediately dismissing Facebook because they have the nerve to charge you to advertise on the platform they own, explore the options.

If Facebook worked for you when it was “free,” I’d say a smart, targeted advertising campaign gives you a good shot at making it work even better.

See if any of these advertising options make sense for your business and test different approaches – just like you would evaluate any other advertising platform.

If you plan to continue along the organic route, adjust your expectations to fit the new reality.

Keep track of the types of content and times of day that get the highest engagement. You won’t reach as many people, so identify and focus on what works best.

Step outside of the crowded 10 am – 3 pm window and post at night and on the weekend. Run contests and promotions that encourage sharing, whether it’s a prize drawing or a notification of a one-day sale.

While sharing the content of others has value if that content is relevant, helpful or entertaining to your audience, make sure you post original photos, videos and blog posts. Give them something they won’t get anywhere else.

Partner and cross-promote with other companies that offer complementary products and services. Pool your resources, from content creation to prizes to business leads.

Finally, a multi-channel approach is best, especially if you’re relying upon organic reach. Expand beyond your Facebook comfort zone and find the platforms that cater to your audience, whether it’s Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube or Linkedin.

The world of Facebook has forever changed. What are you prepared to do now?

Have you changed your approach to Facebook now that fewer people are seeing your content? How so?