Should You Market on Facebook?

Facebook is going public. That’s big news in the financial world.  It seems everyone is talking about what will likely be the largest IPO in history. And more than a few are wishing they had some shares.
But what does Facebook mean for home improvement companies?
From my experience in lead generation – and the experience of many colleagues – advertising on Facebook is a losing proposition.  One reason is because it’s now clear that Facebook is simply a poor lead generation platform.
Yes, you can indeed target a specific demographic with your Facebook advertising. Unfortunately, I know of no large-scale lead generation success stories as a result of advertising on Facebook. My own experience is that Facebook ads have a significantly lower conversion rate than Google or Yahoo ads, but at a relatively high cost.
So, if you assess Facebook advertising strictly by the numbers, it’s a losing proposition for home improvement companies. That’s the bad news.
The good news is that it seems like, before long, every man, woman and child on the planet will have a Facebook account.  And so your Facebook opportunity may actually be as a branding tool, and not as a cost-effective source of leads.  As a branding tool, you can get your message in front of a very specific audience demographic, and at a relatively low cost per CPM.  It won’t immediately drive leads for you, but it can give your company great exposure if you target effectively.
Next, getting your customers or prospects to “friend” you is also a good Facebook strategy.  You can use Facebook in this way to keep sales leads warm, rather than necessarily close them immediately. By building a large group of Facebook friends in your off-season, you can then reach out to them them as your season starts up again to inquire about their specific needs or to share any deals you’re offering.
This method of lead nurturing is gaining popularity among home improvement companies.  And the real bonus here is that it’s free! All it takes is your sweat and elbow grease to get up and running.
Facebook will be a public company soon, and I’m sure the company will make a number of changes to maximize their revenue and keep their new shareholders happy. But I don’t see them eliminating the most popular (free) aspects of the Web site. Facebook as an entity only has value because it has users. If Facebook decides to monetize that user base in unpopular ways, it risks driving them away. That’s just not going to happen.
So there’s some bad and there’s some good with Facebook’s upcoming IPO.  That said, Facebook will continue to offer some valuable marketing opportunities for home improvement companies.