Heresy! the web marketers shout.
At least, that’s what it seems the vast majority of the web marketers would say.
Here are the search results for the phrase “you need to be on Facebook”:
And for “you must be on Facebook”:
Now, did I check all 9,574,000 results to make sure they’re all from web marketers saying you need to be on Facebook if you want your business to succeed? No.
Are some of these results from irrelevant sources explaining how “you must be on Facebook” if you want to use Facebook features to message your friends? Yes.
But that still leaves a lot of results claiming that if you’re not on Facebook, you’re doomed.
Are you, really?
I think not.
Back in the days before internet, lots of people walked through Times Square every day (still do, in fact, although now they’re probably looking at their iPhones, so this analogy isn’t going to hold). Would you have listened to a marketer who said, “You NEED to be in Times Square marketing your business”?
There are lots of people there. True.
But think about these questions:
- Is your target audience there?
- Are they there more than in other areas/mediums?
- Do you know what to say to reach them there?
If the answer to any of those questions is “no” or “I don’t know” – you don’t need to be on Facebook (or any other medium that web marketers say the “you need to be on” declaration with.
At least not right now.
Facebook is a tool. If it will serve you better than any other tool, use it. If you know how to use it effectively to do the job, use it. But if really a screwdriver might work better than the power drill, and you know exactly what to do with the screwdriver to get the job done – so no matter how popular and cool-looking the power drill is – you’re going to be wasting your time and energy.
Be efficient. Use what has the best chance of working for YOU. And if you think something might have a chance of working, but you don’t know how to use it yet, go get trained in how to use it to construct exactly what YOU need – before you jump in.
Do you need to consider being on Facebook? Wise idea.
But if you’ve considered it and the answer is “no,” don’t fall prey to pressure from those thousands of internet marketers with millions of results in Google who tell you that “you need to be on Facebook.”
Do you need to have a website or is a blog good enough? This is another one of those “you need to be” statements that I’m not sure about.
Hi Batya,
Good question. You’re saying that you hear people saying “you need a website”? A blog is effectively a website – just that the focus and presentation are different. If you’re trying to attract customers via your blog, you should have pages that are easy to access describing your products/services, and also ways to contact you/sign up/order – whatever you consider a conversion. As long as you have those, it doesn’t really matter whether the site is in “website” form or in “blog” form.