Dollarphotoclub 68300847Is Facebook Marketing Worth It? 

For years, Facebook has been marketed to businesses and organizations as a free way to get publicity. What many people don't realize is that as Facebook has grown and added advertising, it has gradually reduced the reach of each organic post in order to handle the larger news feed and drive businesses to pay for advertising. 

The good news is that you can "boost" the reach of your page and posts for a fairly reasonable budget - $2 and up. The more visibility you want, the more you pay. If you have a bigger marketing budget, you can also consider highly targeted advertising campaigns to market an event or drive people into your sales funnel. Facebook also allows you to boost your posts to Instagram and websites outside of Facebook. 

The hard cold reality is that if you don't have the budget for Facebook advertising or aren't willing to pay to boost your posts, very few people will see your posts. So, you should limit the time and effort you spend on them. However, I still recommend having a page and filling it with valuable content that is updated regularly as part of your overall marketing strategy. That way, your business has a presence when people look for you.

On top of advertising costs, many business owners forget to take into consideration the time it takes for their staff to come up with creative posts on a regular basis or the cost of hiring someone to do it for you. The social media world has increasing moved towards favoring graphics, photos and videos, which can take more time to find or create. While some business owners have the time and enjoy doing it, many either don't have the time, forget to do it or have trouble coming up with creative ideas. If a business is struggling with any of these problems, they need to consider hiring someone to handle their marketing on a regular basis as part of their marketing budget.

Considering all these expenses, is Facebook marketing still worth it for businesses? The answer to this varies based on your business type and how much time, money and creativity you want to put into it. While there is no guarantee of success, I have seen clients sales grow by 35 percent from one year to the next by using Facebook advertising.

Bottom line, while Facebook is not a magic bullet to grow your business for free anymore, it can lead to new business if you are creative and willing to pay for advertising and invest your time - or pay someone to do it for you.

Michelle Baker is the owner e-Nuz.com, an agency that helps businesses increase their success with online marketing tools and traditional public relations strategies.