A Facebook page is one of the most influential ways to reach your audience.
Facebook’s user database is about 3 billion, which is over 35% of the population of the entire world. With those kinds of stats, it’s easy to see why a Facebook page can be so enticing and why it may lead someone to ask… “Do I even need a website?”
A Facebook page is a great place for new nonprofits to get started.
For a busy and budget-conscious nonprofit professional, a Facebook page can be a great place to start. The platform provides some great tools to help build a solid foundation. With Facebook’s built-in audience and sharing tools it’s easier than ever to set up a page and begin building your community from the ground up.
Facebook provides tools to create and connect with your ideal audience.
Facebook pages give you the ability to:
- Build an engaged community
- Share your services and events with the public
- Share information from other organizations to your page
- Add photos and videos to your posts
- Run ads to grow your audience or to entice them to action
And the winner is... a website! Wait, what?
Despite its amazing tools, a Facebook page isn't a substitute for a quality website.
While a Facebook page should be an essential part of your nonprofit’s marketing plan, it shouldn’t be at the core.
Here are several reasons why Facebook cannot compete with a quality website:
It's harder for Google to find you.
Google crawls millions of web pages a day. If you’re not using a standalone website, Google may not be able to find you. Standard SEO techniques don’t apply to Facebook, and without that ability, it’s harder to find you online.
You have to compete with distractions.
Your website is designed to reflect your brand. You control what people see. The focus is on your organization only. On Facebook, you don’t have that luxury. Ever-changing algorithms can make it difficult to ensure the people you want to reach can see your posts in their feed. You also have to compete with Facebook’s branding, their look, their colors, and all its other distractions.
A website gives you credibility.
When building an audience, you have to get people to know, like, and trust you. With Facebook, you can easily accomplish the first two, but gaining people’s trust demands more. You must build credibility with your audience. And having a website is far more credible than just a Facebook page—a website shows an investment in your brand.
Facebook won’t last forever.
Now, let’s be honest. Facebook doesn’t show any signs of going anywhere anytime soon. But there was also a time when Myspace was the top dog.
Wait… Myspace who?
That’s right! Facebook is big, but tomorrow is a new day, and who knows what the next year holds.
Having your own space on the web is essential. You own it. You control it.
Facebook should be an important cog in your marketing wheel, but the hub of your wheel should be your nonprofit’s website.
