Facebook Changes Make The Ink Flow... But How Much Does It REALLY Affect Your Business?

Just what everyone has been craving: a good old combat of the titans! Isn't it exciting to watch the heating race between Google+ and Facebook. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerber at the recent F8 Developers conference in San Francisco has revealed and explained the details of the latest changes in Facebook, among rumors and statistics flying around on how much dissent it has triggered and how much it's going to play right into the hands of Google+. I can see bookmakers rubbing their hands! ...
It's great get this kind of entertainment outside the sports arena, but let's get back down to earth for a while and look at it from a small to medium size business owners' perspective. If you have a busy enterprise to run you won't have time to wallow in watching the score between the 2 giants, but you will want to know if you can still effectively market through your fan page, right?...

So let's look at it a bit closer:

• As far as I can see, your updates will still reach your fans, except that their order of appearance might be tempered with somewhat. So far no damage
  
• You used to be able to send a direct message to your fans, a feature that very few marketers have been using for their business. This feature will disappear as of the 30th of September. That is regrettable as it was a more direct way to market your offers, by appearing in your fans' "messages"
• With the upcoming need for a SSL (Secure Socket Layer) certificate for your fan page you may need to put your Geek at work so your page is easily accessible after the 1st of October...that is inconvenient, except that it's making the use of Facebook more secure, which we all want right? Considering the short notice you would be forgiven to give Mark Zuckerberg some bad press, or a piece of your mind!
  
• If your Facebook page needs customizing this software will ensure a seamless transition for your fan page to be still easily accessible
  
• There are other "minor changes" in the wings, however except for some inconvenience and possible costs, the way you market through your fanpage could be almost unchanged
• If these changes were to create a huge backlash and associated exodus to Google +, then you could fear that the huge market that facebook represents may wither away. In that case you would want to focus your social media efforts on another, less volatile platform. But we are nowhere near that sort of tipping point!
  

So is it time to pack up your fan page and rush to brother Google+? I would say hold your horses, changes of this nature at short notice are sometimes hard to take, but it is probably wise to give it a few days and avoid panic. Let's reassess facebook as a marketing tool once the solutions emerge and see how they make up for the annoying rocker in the boat....
Meanwhile this is a great reminder for the big picture, and how to avoid the "eggs in same basket" syndrome. Use at least 2 social media platforms complementing each other, and always make sure you drive you followers and fans into an "opt-in" form so they become part of your email list. As social media platforms change, your email list remains yours as your best marketing tool.
Keep an eye on our blog for further updates on changes.