We all know that Facebook can be a great marketing tool for businesses large and small if used correctly, and blogging on Facebook is one of the marketing options it can offer. Facebook reintroduced the Facebook Notes feature a couple of years ago, giving business page owners the option to create long, blog-like posts. For small businesses, Facebook Notes is an easy way to start blogging and boost their Facebook presence. But, can Facebook Notes truly replace your business blog or should it be used to complement your content marketing efforts?

Blogging on Facebook – The Pros and Cons

There was a time when most people relied on a content aggregator to track content they were interested in. These days, everyone seems to be tracking content through their social media feeds – reading articles and watching videos shared by friends and searching for ‘trending’ news.

The shift in the way most people consume their daily dose of online content has meant that it has become much harder for a business to get people to view their website content. A blogging platform like Facebook Notes, allows businesses to do the next best thing: blog directly where their customers are.

With more than a billion users logging on to Facebook each day, you can be sure that thousands (if not millions) of your potential customers, are on Facebook on any given day. Facebook Notes represent a marketing opportunity that a business, regardless of its size, shouldn’t miss. Even if you publish content on your company blog, using Facebook Notes as an added component to your content marketing strategy makes sense. 

Facebook Notes is easy to use. To enable Facebook Notes on your Facebook business page, go to ‘settings’, click on ‘edit page’ and add the ‘Notes tab’. To create a post, click on the ‘Write a Note’ tab, and start typing your content. The FB Notes text editor has basic formatting features such as highlight text, creating hyperlinks and adding bullet points. You can also upload a cover photo for your blog post.

The other advantage of Facebook Notes is that it’s free!

If you are thinking of using Facebook Notes in place of a business blog, it’s important to consider that Facebook Notes is not a full-fledged blogging platform. You cannot vary the theme of your Facebook page like a WordPress blog. Facebook Notes does not allow embedding of video or gif files.  And, unlike your business blog, Facebook Notes does not have the option of creating blog categories or asking readers to opt into a mailing list, submit a contact form or make a purchase. You can at most, incorporate your website link within the Facebook Note, and hope that your followers will click through.

While regular posts on your Facebook business page can be advertised using the ‘boost’ option, the same cannot be done for Notes. Whereas, a blog post on your website can be created as a Facebook post, and then boosted as an advertised post on Facebook.

Additionally, moving exclusively to blogging on Facebook, puts you in danger of losing your online content if Facebook decides to withdraw the Notes feature.   A business blog, on the other hand, gives you hundred percent ownership of your content and a guarantee that it will stay online as long as you are in business.

Facebook Notes as a Marketing Platform for Business

If you already have a business blog or content on other platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook Notes is an excellent way to repurpose existing content. (E.g. you can summarize a blog post on Facebook Notes and include a link to your business blog for the full version of the post.)

Apart from publishing the regular blog content, you can also use Facebook Notes to promote your business on Facebook. As an example, you could write a Facebook Note to:

• Let your customers know what your business mission is and what you stand for
• Introduce products or services offered by your business
• Share relevant news about your business or industry
• Share additional details about ongoing events and promotions
• Write a note to thank your Facebook followers

To summarize, creating Facebook Notes increases your visibility on Facebook, and yes, it is an easy way to create blog posts on Facebook and increase engagement with your audience. However, you still need a business blog to drive traffic to your website and have full ownership of your business content.