Facebook and Business Opportunities

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IS FACEBOOK USEFUL FOR GROWING YOUR BUSINESS ONLINE?

Facebook is the most popular social network in the world with over 2.9 billion monthly users and over 240 million in the U.S. alone. But is Facebook an effective tool that can strengthen your business? Well…it used to be. In the early years of Facebook the goal was to bring people together to increase networking opportunities. As you may recall, it began on college campuses as an effort to meet and connect with other students, but the goals and objectives have since changed quite considerably as the money has flowed it. Social Media companies and developers are interested in nothing more than finding a way to convince you to stay on their product as long as possible for the benefit of advertisers. That does not create an environment for you to cultivate and nurture strong business relationships.

[ LEARN MORE: HOW THE FACEBOOK ALGORITHM WORKS AND HOW TO OUTSMART IT]

Today, Facebook is so polluted, so toxic, and so divisive that it’s just a reservoir for noise that you’re already interested in or familiar with. If your goal is to discover something new, get off of Facebook. If your goal is to get discovered (as a business), get off of Facebook. Spend your time and effort elsewhere. You can do better: SEE PART II

HOW POPULAR IS FACEBOOK?

Facebook is super popular, there is no doubt about it. Without even branching off and discussing the companies it controls (i.e. Instagram, WhatsApp), almost half of the world is on Facebook. More incredibly, users average a whopping 2 hours and 27 minutes on Social Media daily, most of it on Facebook. In countries with emerging markets, which not so coincidentally have a younger population, daily consumption of over 4 hours is common (see Nigeria and the Philippines).

So, if everyone is at the mall, why wouldn’t you want to open your store there? If almost ¾ of all Americans are active Facebook users, why wouldn’t it make sense to advertise and be active there?

HOW USEFUL IS FACEBOOK?

Well, to stick with the mall analogy, think about how a mall works. You enter one of several main entrances and then move through common areas that expose you to all the stores you could hope for. While cruising up the escalator (where your eyes are intentionally free to wander), you see countless outlets on multiple floors as you plan which stores to visit before making your way to the pet store on the first floor to check out the puppies like you’ve gotten in the habit of doing. This is the way it has worked for years.

But in the Facebook version, there aren’t common entrances and you don’t move through common areas. You enter every store directly from the outside and you’re never exposed to those other options or ideas that weren’t on your mind before you came in. There’s one back exit and it goes to a store very similar to the one you’re in currently. And the pattern continues. You exit the next store and find another that is very similar to the one you were just in. The mall knows that you like this stuff, so they’re just gonna keep hitting you with more of the same…and you’ll likely stay a while (hopefully not up to 4 hours). Someone help you if you chose to go to that pet store with the skateboarding dog first!

If you’re in real estate, and you want others to find you on Facebook, be aware that you’re inevitably connected to all those similar stores around you. For every one real estate company (yours being one of them) people can access, they’re going to see 4 or 5 more just like you. People came looking for a business like yours and Facebook wants them to stay, so the more the merrier…merrier for them, not for you.

[LEARN MORE: 5 REASONS WHY FACEBOOK IS BAD FOR SMALL BUSINESSES]

YOU’RE SIMPLY NOT GOING TO REACH NEW CLIENTS

Facebook’s algorithm closes any webs of opportunity that used to exist on the platform. If you’re in real estate, it’s very likely that your newsfeed is overrun, or soon will be, by more and more real estate related stories, issues, and contacts. Instead of gaining a platform to reach new clients, you’ll instead fixate on seeing what the competition is up to and trying to keep up with them. In the same way soccer mom’s create a fake persona online for other soccer mom’s to see, you’ll risk wasting time that should be geared toward creating value for your business and your clients, on building up your Facebook reputation…which no potential clients are going to see anyway.

[LEARN MORE: STOP COMPARING YOURSELF TO WHAT YOU SEE ON SOCIAL MEDIA]

SO WHAT’S THE SOLUTION

At Nexus Property Management®, we are indeed on Facebook, but we use assisting software to post and manage our accounts so we’re minimizing the amount of time geared toward social media. But instead of using it directly to drum up business, we instead use it as a vehicle to export content that we already create and circulate in other areas. Next week’s article will explicitly dive into what that looks like.

**[UPDATE: NEXT WEEK’S ARTICLE (FACEBOOK PART 2)]**

NEXT STEPS

Stay tuned for next week’s article, “IF NOT FACEBOOK, HOW DO YOU GROW YOUR BUSINESS ONLINE?” …and as always, don’t hesitate to reach out to our team if you have any questions or interest in becoming a Nexus client, an Nvestor, or want to learn more about Franchise Opportunities.

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Mick Lefort is the Vice President of Operations for Nexus Property Management®. A National Property Management Franchise that manages all types of rental property from single family homes or condos to large apartment buildings and complexes.

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