Facebook for Business: You have to pay to play

Over the last year or so, Facebook Business Pages have become the quintessential example of having to pay to play.

When Facebook first released its Offers feature in 2012, they did an amazing thing that forever hooked me on the POWER OF FACEBOOK: they offered the service for free. Yes, that’s right. Facebook let us pull back the curtain a little to see the power of their platform.

One of our current customers, an independent resort property, received a reach of nearly 1 million unique Facebook users with an offer. With the power of Facebook Ads, the ability to reach any audience is simply a few clicks away. The only catch? Well, it’s less of a catch and more of a requirement: you have to pay.

By late 2012, Facebook announced that it would begin to monetize Facebook Offers. While it was necessary to then boost Offers to gain reach, Facebook still allowed Business pages to show up regularly in the news feed of connected users. However, since mid-late 2014, Facebook Business Pages have seen a real downward turn in organic traffic. With the pay-to-play model, businesses now need to boost their posts with at least a few bucks to get any real traffic.

Boosting Posts

With the careful application of targeted demographics & interests, as well as A/B ad testing, you can really stretch those marketing dollars. For just $25 and a targeted approach on a post, you can easily reach 5,000+ followers and see some real engagement.

I even know some fellow marketers who have seen a noticeable uptick in blog traffic week over week by simply boosting links to their blog from Facebook for just $10/post. Again, by selecting a target group and a little money, you can make a real impact through Facebook.

UPDATE: Marketing on a tiny budget and need to prove that advertising with Facebook works. Read our 5 ways to advertise on Facebook for $5 per day.

Is It Worth It?

Hopefully, you know the answer to this if you’ve read the previous content. Yes. Of course, boosting your Facebook content is worth the money. It’s pay-to-play. With Facebook, if you don’t pay, you don’t play. Simple as that.

With Facebook, if you don’t pay, you don’t play.