If you want to promote your business online, Facebook might not be the best way to do it.
After significant time and expense, several large companies are now nixing their Facebook experiment because it simply didn’t advance their business as they had hoped.
According to Sucharita Mulpuru, an analyst at Forrester Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts:
“There was a lot of anticipation that Facebook would turn into a new destination, a store, a place where people would shop. But it was like trying to sell stuff to people while they’re hanging out with their friends at the bar.”
Ashley Lutz’ story on Bloomberg.com revealed the following:
- Last April, Gamestop Corp. generated 3.5 million fans on their Facebook page. Six months later they shut down their Facebook page. “Customers had no incentive to shop at Gamestop’s Facebook store rather than the company’s regular website because purchasing online is already convenient”, said Ashley Sheetz of Gamestop. “We just didn’t get the return on investment we needed from the Facebook market, so we shut it down pretty quickly.”
- During the past 12 months, Gap, JCP, Nordstrom, Banana Republic and Old Navy all opened and closed their storefronts on Facebook as well.
- Wade Gerten, chief executive officer of social media developer 8thBridge, said this of Facebook, “Cracks in the model showed quickly. Clients have taken a different approach, shutting stores or scaling back their offerings. Facebook was basically just another place to shop for all the stuff already available on the retailer websites.”
Are The Better Ways To Promote Your Business Online?
As mentioned above, Facebook is great for hanging out with friends and keeping up with what’s going on in their lives. But people normally don’t go to Facebook looking to buy something or find a new dentist.
People normally go to Google or some other search engine when they’re ready to make a purchase or hire a professional.
Sure, social media can be a great way to get a recommendation/opinion from someone about a product or service you are looking for. But that’s often done after you’ve found what you’re looking for in a search engine.
Even with all the new techno-wizardry that seems to emerge daily, it’s your company website that usually makes the sale for your business along with being visible in the search engines.
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Gamestop to J.C. Penney Shut Facebook Stores: Retail
