Over the last few weeks, Facebook has been building hype around the revolution of the Notes feature on user profiles, in an effort to compete with the likes of LinkedIn (where long-form posts are possible) and Medium (the current golden child of the content world). Unfortunately, the new Notes – which features cover images and a clearer layout – isn’t yet available on pages. Although Facebook may just be waiting to roll it out at a later date, we’re still sad to see it unavailable. Here’s why we think Facebook needs to fix this – and sharpish.
1) More Blogging Opportunities
Small businesses and start-ups who focus on a Facebook presence over a website do so to lower costs. But this decision locks them out of many benefits you’d find with having your own website: including the ability to create original content. You may argue that they could head on over to Medium or LinkedIn to do this free of charge, but you’d be forgetting target markets for such online brands usually include fashionable netizens or lovers of homemade crafts – audiences readily available over on Facebook. Opening up the feature to pages is opening up the opportunity to blog to smaller brands who couldn’t otherwise afford it.
2) Adds Value to Facebook as a Platform
It’s no secret that Facebook is the social media platform with the most users worldwide, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that its popularity remains consistently high. In fact, many businesses that are starting to embrace social media are turning away from Facebook because they don’t fully see how it can help them to achieve their business goals. The Notes tool could add some much needed value in the eyes of businesses new to the whole social media arena, as it ties so well into digital marketing strategies and existing Facebook management packages - and Facebook could benefit from renewed faith in the platform from its professional users.
3) The Competition Could be Very Afraid
Currently, Medium and LinkedIn are both basking in the warm love of professionals the world over, who have found that they can easily boost their authority on a subject by posting about it on either platform. Facebook have missed a trick, however: although Medium caters to non-professionals as well, that’s not where its focus is. If anything, it seems counter-intuitive that Facebook went after non-professional users rather than making Medium and LinkedIn very scared by luring professionals to its revamped Notes feature.
4) Added Traffic
It’s not just benefits for professionals that make us convinced Notes should come to Facebook pages – Facebook itself could see huge amounts of traffic generated by users looking to read content from professional sources. If search engines successfully picked up on the platform’s original content, referral traffic alone would make it all worthwhile. On top of that, this extra traffic drive is the perfect chance to capture those last few people who still haven’t given in to Facebook – there really is too much the platform could gain to just pass up the opportunity!
Interested in adding Facebook to your digital marketing strategy? Get in touch with the Christian Michaels Agency to see what we can do for you and your online presence!