Why You Need a Website – Even If You Have Facebook
There are many reasons why you would want to have a website even if you have a social media account – regardless of what site(s) you use. I’ll lay out just a few in this article, though I’m sure you can think of more reasons of your own if you do a little research.
1. Privacy
It’s no secret that Facebook has been in the spotlight quite a bit lately regarding privacy concerns and how they collect use information about you and everyone else that uses their platform. This is causing a bit of a drop in userbase which directly affects the pool of potential clients you can market to on the site. Additionally, with all these privacy concerns, more and more people are adjusting their privacy settings, effectively blocking many ads and business posts. No one really knows how many of their friends are seeing their posts and that goes for businesses too. You might have thousands of followers, but only a few are actually seeing what you post.
2. Facebook is slowly dying
As I mentioned in the previous section, the user base of Facebook is declining. According to a 2018 study by the Pew Research Center, as many as 74% of users have taken one of these three steps in the past year:
- Adjusted their privacy settings (54%)
- Taken a break from checking Facebook for several weeks or more (42%)
- Deleted the Facebook app from their phone (26%)
Leaving Facebook behind is a growing trend – especially among the younger crowd (ages 18-29) as the study showed that 44% of users in this age group had deleted the app completely.
3. You’re limited on what info you can share
Many Facebook users have posted images or content that they thought was funny or interesting only to find that someone didn’t agree and reported it resulting in their post being deleted. You may argue for freedom of speech, but on a social platform such as Facebook, you really have no control over what happens to your content. If a user (or a Facebook employee) disagrees with your viewpoint on anything at all, your post can be deleted and you can even be banned should you run into this issue multiple times. With a website of your own, you don’t have this issue.
4. You have no way of styling your Facebook page
Let’s face it: MySpace is gone. The days of customizing your background images or have your favorite song play when someone comes to your page are long gone. Now, the best you have is to share some images and hope people can see them.
The best way to show off your personality and style, as an individual or as a business, is to design your website your way. You have control over how whimsical or how serious you want people to see you. Your website is a reflection of you. Your style and taste comes out when you build a website and that’s what people see. They can get a feeling of what to expect when dealing with you based on how you design your site. The layout, the font, the images, colors – everything directly reflects your personality.
5. A website is more credible than a Facebook profile
Building credibility should be a main goal for any business. The first thing people do when they learn about a new company is look it up. I know that, personally, if all I can find is a Facebook page, I instantly question the validity of the company. I don’t see Facebook as being a serious indicator of a successful business. Sure, they could have thousands of followers, but that doesn’t tell me that the company takes themselves seriously. I know I’m not alone in this.
I’m Not Saying That You Don’t Need a Facebook or Social Media Presence At All
It’s still a good idea to have them. Why? Well, social media is just that: social. You can use social media to connect with your followers. Have a quick announcement about an event you’re going to? Post it! Find a funny meme that you want to share? Post it! Depending on your business, you may not want to have memes and such on your site. Again, you’re looking to build credibility with your site so that’s not usually the place for this kind of content. You can use your social media pages to market your website! After all, you do need to market your website, as I discuss in my other blog post, “How Do You Market Your Website?”.
I like to think of social media as a fun way to connect with people. My website is a professional place to show what we do, services we offer, etc. Two different types of sites, two different types of content, completely different approaches. Go ahead and build up your social media following, but make sure you budget for a website. Don’t forget to budget for maintenance as well!
