Facebook for business

Running a Facebook business page can help your reach and connect with your existing and potential customers. There are a number of benefits of using Facebook for businesses, as well as some challenges.

Benefits of Facebook for business

Some of the advantages of Facebook business pages include:

• Brand awareness: Facebook is one of the largest social media platforms in the world. Your business' presence will help you gain exposure to potential customers.
• Drive website traffic: By posting links to your website, you can help increase online visits.
• Targeted advertising: Facebook advertising allows you to target specific demographics, based on location, age, gender and interests.
• Generate business leads: Your audience of Facebook 'likes' can be a great starting point to gather sales leads. You can use competitions and giveaways to gather email address to build your marketing lists.
• Customer service and feedback: Facebook allows two-way communication between businesses and their customers. You can use the messaging service to deal directly with your customers. Reviews and comments can be a great way to gather customer feedback and find areas for improvement.
• Monitor and improve: Use data from your page's 'Facebook Insights' to understand what content works best and plan for the future.

Challenges of Facebook for business

While Facebook can deliver plenty of benefits, it is important to be aware of the potential downsides:

• Time and resources: Setting up and running a Facebook page requires a time investment. You may need a member of staff who can take on social media duties and have enough time to manage the page well and create engaging content.
• Skills: The staff member who manages your Facebook page may need training to ensure they have the right skills. They should be able to plan and create content, respond to enquiries and complaints, and represent your business.
• Budget: To make the most of Facebook, you will probably need to invest in paid-for advertising. This will require its own budget.
• Negative feedback: The two-way communication nature of Facebook means that unhappy customers can voice their complaints publicly. It is important to handle these complaints well as your response will be under scrutiny from your audience. It is not advised to delete genuine negative comments.