Is Facebook dead?

When creating your online business, the first thing you might choose is where to be present on social media. It’s almost impossible to avoid them, and the choice may be overwhelming. There are so many platforms to choose from: Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Snapchat, Pinterest, and now Discord…

Some will be easy to choose because you’ve been using these platforms for a long time, and you think they are a good fit for your business. Others may be trickier to pick because you have the impression that they are not trendy anymore. It can be the case with Facebook. Facebook is indeed the “mother” of social media, the platform that started it all. It’s now a global brand, Meta, that owns a lot of apps we use in our daily lives: Whatsapp, Instagram… But it’s also a social media that has the reputation to be “old” and not so trendy anymore. 

So, should you still be using Facebook for your brand? Or is Facebook dead? Here is our opinion.

Who is still using Facebook?

Facebook is the social media with the most active users worldwide: 3 billion users logged in to Facebook in October 2022. Yet, we can feel like fewer people are using this platform… And we’re probably wrong!

Ask your friends. A lot of them will say they don’t like Facebook or they don’t use it anymore. So yes, they won’t necessarily talk about their love life like they used to do in their teenagehood, but they still log in every day, almost as a habit. That’s the power of Facebook. It became a community tool they use in their daily life. Facebook is a way to keep connections with your friends and family, consume the news, and get recommendations on trips, housing, etc…

The use of Facebook as a personal diary, as we used to do before, is over. But it doesn’t mean this platform isn’t used anymore. It’s just used differently.

Did businesses kill Facebook?

In fact, we say Facebook is dead if we manage a business Facebook page the old way. We are already flooded with ads everywhere in our daily life: on our phones, at the bus stop, in the subway, on TV… So when a business also starts to over-promote its services or products online, users are running away. That is what made Facebook a place where engagement is dead.

On the contrary, if you want to use Facebook to create content with high-added value, you might be surprised. Think about your target audience and use Facebook codes! Facebook is great to share informational content, creating a community, getting people’s reactions or opinions… If you keep that in mind, you’ll be able to use Facebook to its full potential.

Follow the rules, study the algorithm

Facebook’s algorithm is often said to have a lower engagement rate than other platforms like Instagram or Facebook. The thing is, there are so many different kinds of content on Facebook, with written posts, videos, links, etc… that it’s hard for the algorithm to define a rule to properly measure the reach and engagement of a post.

For example, Facebook added reels that are the same kind of short video as TikTok. However, on TikTok, the algorithm is based on how many times a single user watched your video, while on Facebook it’s how many likes and comments you got on it. And we all know people have a tendency to watch your video but not engage with it.

That’s why a lot of companies and content creators don’t post their content on Facebook anymore. Getting 2 likes on a piece of content you spent hours editing is discouraging. Yet, formats evolve, and you can still attract a large audience on Facebook. You just have to know how. Recently, businesses and content creators are recycling their Tik Tok, Youtube, Instagram or Twitch content into “best moment” videos, and it works great.

It sounds easy, but it requires knowing your audiences on all social media platforms (what your Facebook audience loves, your Tik Tok audience won’t), and doing some self-reflection work on your content to place the interests of users first. Not a lot of businesses are able to do that because they’re obsessed with showing their logo and services first. But these two things aren’t interesting for your followers.

New features take time

Every year, Mark Zuckerberg launches a new big feature to gain back Meta’s popularity. And each year we feel like Facebook is dying a little more. It’s been a couple of years since the metaverse has been announced. It’s supposed to be a virtual space where you can hang out with your friends or do some shopping. A lot of businesses were excited by it when it came out… But a year later, nothing has changed.

And there isn’t something new or exciting planned either for 2023. The timeline will look more like Tik Tok’s “for you” page. Users will see content that is recommended for them, that they’re supposed to like according to the algorithm. Even the CEO of Facebook doesn’t believe in it: “either users love it or hate it”.

Facebook mainly lacks a great user experience with easy use for companies. The creator studio is hard to navigate, and you manage ads in a different space than organic posts (even the URL changes!)… And we’re lost between personal profiles and business pages. We hope that the upcoming changes in the algorithm will improve Facebook’s interface for an easy user experience.

Why should you use Facebook?

Ok, we’re not only hear to talk bad about Facebook. We do think it has potential, even more for businesses. If you know how to use Facebook the right way, you can have a great reach. You can start asking yourself the following questions: 

• Can my company’s content be used to spark discussions or debates?
• Are there any local or expert groups that I can become a part of? 
• Am I able to take advantage of every feature of Facebook? 

Here’s what you can do already.

Focus on your local impact with Facebook groups and the marketplace

Facebook is amazing for local marketing. There are tons of groups and pages that are locally based and can help you gain exposure around your place. Search for groups in your city or region… there’s always at least one! Engage on the posts of those groups and reply to comments. Share some of your content from time to time to become a local ambassador.

If you sell products, go to the Facebook marketplace, it’s just like Craigslist! People are selling stuff they don’t want anymore or offering services.

The secret to success on Facebook is don’t make institutional content and interact with users in groups, marketplace, or pages.

Use videos to reach more people

Facebook’s algorithm loves videos. There is an entire tab dedicated to a video feed now. And the good thing here is that you don’t have to care about the format (they can be vertical or horizontal) or the length.

To give you an example (that we got belonging to the social media club LGI), the French videast and travel blogger Bruno Maltor gave a new impulse to his Facebook publishing reels. In 3 months, he gained 20K new followers. Facebook clearly encourages creators to publish videos, and it might sometimes work better than on other platforms. For instance, this video got a million views on Facebook, when it “only” got 300K views on TikTok et 200K on Shorts.

With the right strategy, time and patience, you can target a vast audience and get your content seen. Want to know if your Facebook page is up to the challenge? Check out our new Wise essentials to get a Facebook audit a a lower price.