Facebook: Curse or Blessing?

Generally, when you hear people talking about creating “community” on the web, Facebook is likely to come up in the conversation.

But is it a smart idea to build a community on Facebook?

Here are some important things to consider…


Platform  Control

Whenever you’re building an asset in your business, you always want to stay away from solely depending on tools, resources or software that you can’t control – especially when they are vital to your long-term growth.

Ideally the more control you have the better.  So for control purposes, installing the software on YOUR server is better than using a free solution hosted by someone else.

Make sense?

That’s why Facebook would fall into this “I don’t have control” category.

For example, what if Facebook decided they didn’t like Dog Lovers and implemented a rule that all “Pages” associated with this topic would be deleted.  If this was a niche market that you were serving, you’d now be up a certain creek without a paddle.

Obviously this is an exaggerated case but hopefully the message is clear.

I’ve seen many people whose business solely depended on Google Adwords for traffic, only to have it go completely up in smoke because of one “policy change”.

They depended entirely on one solution (that they didn’t have control over) for traffic.  And, as circumstances would have it, a change was made and they were the ones that suffered.

Likewise, thousands of people using Ning just experienced a similar fate when some new policy changes forced them to look elsewhere and start over again.  Many of these communities had thousands of members.  Can you imagine how devastating that would be if one day you have a community with thousands of people and now you’re forced to start over?

For many people/business owners, Facebook is positioned in their business as a tool that presents the same vulnerabilities.

People are using it as a primary tool for building a community around their product, service or brand.
In my opinion, that’s a big mistake.

You want to be in control of the platform where your community is built.  That’s one of the main reasons we recommend installing WishList Member on YOUR server and building your community from there.

Should You Use Facebook At All?

Am I suggesting you don’t use Facebook at all?

Not at all.

But what I am saying is make YOUR membership site the primary “community center” for your company – not Facebook.

That means opening yourself to the possibility of also including a “free membership level” or at least a low cost entry price.

This will help people get people in the door.  Then once you’ve built trust, they’ll be much more open to upgrading to a higher paid level down the road.

So What Should You Use Facebook For?

To channel people.

Channel them from Facebook to your other community (that you control).

Listen, there is no doubt that people are on Facebook.  The sheer number of people and the amount of time spent on Facebook is eye opening.

So it’s definitely a smart idea to meet your market where they are.

Just don’t create a comfortable setting where they have no reason to come and check out your community.

Communicate on Facebook what’s happening within YOUR community.  Share content teasers and then give them a link to where they can read the rest on your site.

Start conversations on Facebook about hot topics in YOUR forum and be sure to link to the original thread on YOUR site.

Or if someone has a question on Facebook, give them a short summary of the answer with a link to where they can find the detailed version or a video tutorial or screenshots etc.

The KEY:  Give people a reason to go to YOUR site!

Facebook is good when used correctly.

Just don’t rely on it as your primary platform when it comes to building a community around your product, service or brand.

Do you have any other ideas on how you can “channel” people from Facebook to your site?

If so, share them below in the comments.