Facebook pages were once the must-have tool in the marketers tool shed.

They’re not anymore!

Marketers need to know three things about a Facebook audience. One, you’ll need to spend money on advertising to build the audience in the first place. Two, you’ll need to spend money on advertising to get your message read by that same audience. Three, Facebook have a long history of obfuscating their intentions so expect to spend money in other ways in the future.

Want some evidence?

According Social@Ogilivy, Facebook pages now have a organic reach of just 6 percent. And they believe that number is headed to 0 percent. Yes, that’s right, zero.

What that means is that exactly zero of the thousands of people who’ve liked your page will see your posts in their newsfeed. Unless, of course, you shell out more money on a Facebook advertising campaign.

Think about that for a minute. For years now Facebook have been telling businesses to develop audiences on Facebook. They’ve been tricking businesses into paying for advertising to build the number of people who like their page. Now they want those same businesses to pay again, this time to get their message read.

That’s like buying a new car, driving off the lot and then finding out you can only buy petrol from the dealer.

And while your thinking, imagine for a moment if every business with a Facebook page decided to advertise. Clearly, Facebook won’t be able to put every page into everyone’s newsfeed so guess what’s going to happen. Yep, there’ll be a bidding war just like realestate.com.au is doing with agents in Australia. The only way to get your message in front of the audience you paid to build will be to spend even more money.

You tell me if you think that’s a smart move.

Want some alternatives?

On Facebook an audience an illusion
When you hit send button to your email list you can pretty much guarantee how many people will open it. Not so on Facebook. According to Time magazine organic reach of page posts have been steadily declining since around 2012. If you want to reach an audience get a website, a CRM system and start building an email list.

On Facebook you have close to zero control the appearance of your page
On a website you have total control over what your site looks like and how it behaves. Not on Facebook where the only substantive thing you can change is the cover pic. Like, wow man! But even that is subject to Facebook’s petty rules about the amount of text and limitations on calls to action. Spend the money you were thinking of wasting on Facebook on improving your website. It’ll be yours forever and no-one can take it away.

Still keen to invest in building a Facebook audience? Share your reasons in the comments below.