Why Your Small Business Needs a Facebook Budget

If you are running a small business and you are on Facebook, allocating a budget in this “pay to play” space will help you succeed. 

Over the years, whether or not your posts get seen has been determined by many things. In the Facebook world today, if you want your posts to get seen, most likely you will have to put money behind them. 

When we use the term “organic” in reference to social media, we mean activity that is unpaid. It used to be the case that you could organically grow your followers easily and by leaps and bounds on Facebook. 

Facebook Reach Maxes Out at 1-2%

Now, for most Facebook pages, when you post and don’t put money behind it, the most organic reach that the post will have is about 1-2% of your followers. And even that is only true if you follow best practices. Pages that don’t follow best practices are penalized by Facebook, and so this max 1-2% declines even further from there.

It’s the way that Facebook’s mission has evolved that has been the biggest driver of this change over the years. Yes, it makes them more profitable. However, they also have placed a huge focus on the importance of “community” on their social media platform.

They have explained this in the following way. Facebook users want to see and engage with the people closest to them that they care about. These are the posts that Facebook prioritizes in each user’s news feed. This is the main reason that Facebook business page organic reach has drastically declined.

[Related article: Boost Your Local Marketing With These Tactics]

Is It Facebook Still Worth It For My Business?

So you might be asking yourself if devoting any time or resources to this platform is worth it if you are not advertising? Here are a couple of ways to look at this.

First, know that most potential customers will be checking out your Facebook page prior to deciding to do business with you. Even if you don’t have a big Facebook budget, posting consistently shows these potential customers that you have an active presence online and care about presenting a professional and up-to-date image. So in this case, yes, you still need to be posting.

Second, you could instead focus on building that huge sense of community on your Facebook page. This takes time and resources, such as a dedicated social media manager or team, but is well worth the investment for many businesses to be seen on Facebook.

[Find Inspiration: Here Are 5 Quotes To Inspire You To Use Social Media For Your Business]

Begin Building Your Online Community Today

To get started with Facebook advertising or building your online community, Connections Healthcare Strategies can help. Schedule your strategy session today.