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I have several websites, and only one Facebook page, which is updated on the first never of every month.
Weirdly, my plant website gets quite a bit of traffic on Facebook, despite me not making it a page and never, ever sharing even one post there.
That’s not to say there’s no value to having a Facebook page. Quite the opposite – a thousand of people use Facebook, and Facebook adds to drive traffic to their blogs.
I’m just not one of them.
I don’t really use Facebook so I don’t care to learn about the way it works. But if you love Facebook, it might make sense for you to make a page.
Are you planning on being active on Facebook?
This is really what this article boils down to. I don’t advise that you do any form of social media marketing that you don’t enjoy in some capacity.
If you love figuring out algorithms, and making social media graphics on Canva or photoshop, then go ahead and get on Facebook.
Is your target audience active on Facebook?
There’s no point spending time and possibly money on Facebook if the people you want reading your articles don’t hang out there.
I’d be surprised if your niche didn’t even have one Facebook group, but some niches are better served than others.
If your audience fits the Facebook demographic, then maybe it’s worth your time. Facebook tends to attract older, right-wing people – the exact opposite of the demographics I’m looking to attract.
The blog niches that typically do well on Facebook
- Security
- Landscaping
- Crafts
- Wildlife
- Humour (though how you’d rank on Google I’ve no idea)
- Cute animals (see humour)
And obviously, if you create that cringey content that everyone’s auntie tags them in and asks them to copy and paste into their status (DON’T SHARE) you’ll do well on Facebook.
Do you enjoy using Facebook?
I hate Facebook for anything other than snooping on old classmates. I hate the cringy content, I hate Zuckerberg, I hate the ridiculous pay to play algorithm.
I use Facebook because I belong to groups in my various niches. If it weren’t for them (and obvs the snooping) I’d delete it.
And don’t get me started on the desktop interface. I hate it. Just when I start getting used to one, they change the damn thing and I can’t find anything.
Wow I’m not as old as that last sentence made me seem.
Do you have Facebook marketing skills?
If you have the necessary skills to use Facebook to drive traffic to your blog, absolutely use those skills. Good luck to you.
The rest of us need to remember that it is a skill, and like all skills, it takes time to learn. You need to assess whether devoting time to learning how to leverage Facebook is a good use of your time.
Since I hate Facebook, it’s not worth my time. I like writing, so I try to spend 95% of my workday writing. The other 5% is spent eating doing keyword research.
Do you have a Facebook marketing budget?
I briefly mentioned before that Facebook is pay to play. Obviously it’s free to create profiles, groups, and pages, but actually getting them in front of people’s faces can end up costing you money.
You may have 12k people following you blog page, but you’ll have to cough up if you want Facebook to actually show your posts to them.
I think it really goes against the social side of social media, but absolutely the way they’ll all go – especially Instagram. I’m in an Instagram subreddit and a lot of people are complaining that their reach has tanked.
If you have the money, and you want to crack Facebook, then I highly recommend you hire a VA that specialises in Facebook marketing. That way, you’re more likely to get a return on the money.
I’ve never hired a VA, but I would recommend getting one through a recommendation. Search for Facebook VAs on LinkedIn and check their references if you don’t have any contacts that would have ever employed someone in a similar role.
Does Facebook affect SEO
No.
All social media links are, as far as I’m aware, nofollow. No follow links were created by Google to stop spammers getting backlinks from authoritative sites.
This why you can’t leverage social sites to get backlinks – Google knows that you can add your link to these sites and won’t follow them. Such sites includes:
- Quora
- Medium
- Youtube
Most blog comments are no follow too.
This is why blog comments only work if you’re leaving a useful comment, you can get someone to click on your link, and you can help them.
So if you’re leaving blog comments like ‘great idea!’ or ‘so cute!’ stop it. You’re wasting your time unless you genuinely just think something’s a great idea or cute.
How to drive traffic to your blog from Facebook
You need a solid strategy.
If you just dump your links on your page you’re unlikely to drive a huge following.
If you’re relying on Facebook for traffic don’t then you need to create an engaged audience – the more likes and comments you get, the bigger your reach.
Don’t trust those articles that are all ‘5 easy steps to drive traffic from Facebook to your blog’. It’s not easy, unless you have pots of money to spare. It’s a skill that people charge a lot of money for.
You can optimise your profile, update it regularly, use awesome pictures, comment on similar niches, and still not get any click throughs. No ta.
Is blog traffic from Facebook high quality?
In my experience, yes. People are so used to scrolling endless through Facebook that they only click through to articles they’re actually interested in OR that their friend/family have tagged them in, and feel they have to read the article in case whoever tagged them tests them later.
Still not worth the hassle for me though.
Final thoughts on whether your blog needs a Facebook page
Well, you know. If you want a Facebook page, make one. Just bear in mind that it can take a lot of skill, time, and money to get a lot of decent traffic from it. If it’s worth it to you go ahead.
Just don’t come crying to me when they change the algorithm and you have to start your strategy from scratch.
By the way, if you are a Facebook marketer, you can absolutely make a killing on Facebook. You probably know this. But for plebs like me, it’s just not worth the time.
