Go back to being a young, broke high schooler for just one minute. You’ve just spent the last of your spare change filling up your tank, and you hear that your friends want to hang out at the local Tex-Mex joint. You don’t have the cash for a burrito, but you want to see your buds, so you decide you go, and you’ll just eat the free chips and salsa.
Facebook for your business is kinda like that Tex-Mex restaurant. They won’t kick you out if you don't want to pay, but you’re also not going to get the full experience without opening your wallet.
Here’s something we hear from funeral homes all the time:
“Hey, you are always talking about paying for Facebook ads and having a budget for social media. But I thought Facebook was free? Has that changed? Why would I pay?”
That’s a solid question. Here’s the dealio though. You can be on Facebook, have a page for your business, and post as many things as you want for free. You could spend all day making posts for your funeral home and posting them on Facebook and old Zuck isn’t going to charge you a penny. However, the algorithm also is going to limit the reach of your posts (who sees your content) so much that it will be hard to get any traction.
Facebook prioritizes content made by regular people posted on personal accounts. We’re talking about baby photos, vacation pics, local news, and a whole lot of what-not. If a business wants to break through this feed, they're going to need to pay. This means boosting posts and paying for ads.
Bummer, right?
Well, not really. Facebook’s ads are more effective, targeted, and reliable than any other marketing platform be it local radio, TV, billboards, or mail. So, yes you have to pay to really reach people, but you’re getting the biggest bang for your buck. For more info CHECK OUT THIS ARTICLE. But yeah, it sounds like a pretty good deal to me.
So let’s wrap it up with the Tex-Mex thing again. See, if you’ve been using Facebook for your business without putting any cash into it, you’re just eating chips and drinking lemon water. But, if you could just pay a little bit of money, you could let your mouth taste an amazing, award-winning, salivating-worthy burrito.
Watch this video as I explain why Facebook is pay-to-play: