Once Upon a Time…
Is your business ready for Facebook Pages Stories? Perhaps more to the point: should it be?
Snapchat did it first. Instagram followed. Then Facebook jumped on the bandwagon, launching Facebook stories back in March this year. Now, with Facebook all set to launch Pages Stories this month, allowing Business Pages, Brands, Public Figures, Cause and Communities to post Stories like a user, you’re probably asking: “Is this right for my business?”
Although popular from the get-go on Snapchat, and increasingly popular on Instagram (Instagram Stories now have more than 250 million daily users, overtaking Snapchat which as 166 million daily users), Stories seem to have fallen flat on Facebook. How many of your friends use it? Yep, us too. None. Which begs the question: are Facebook Stories worth the effort for your Business Page?
The pros and cons Facebook Page Stories as a marketing tool:
Facebook Pages Stories Pros
- Stories are certainly a fresh new way to reach followers or customers on their own terms. The post will only be viewed if the follower chooses to see it. This will increase the importance of quality content and incentives to view your story.
- Stories are less likely to be lost in the Facebook main stream as they show up on the top of the Facebook mobile app and top right of the desktop page. This could be a way to get around the Facebook “pay to play” system as, in theory, all followers will see your posts pop up on their list of Stories.
- Facebook Stories aren’t being created or used by the average user so there will be no competition with “friends”, meaning that Pages Stories will show up first.
- You will be able to cross post Instagram Stories to Facebook, thus expanding your Stories’ audience.
- Much like Snapchat filters, Facebook has enabled fun camera effects, filters and geolocation tags for Stories, creating a fun tool to add intrigue and excitement to a post.
- You have another way to post authentic content, including videos that are short and simple. This will be a great feature for celebrities and other individuals to share content with their fans, rewarding their loyalty with content not everyone can see. (Unless people screenshot the picture and repost it…)
Cons
- People aren’t using Facebook Stories so why will they view Page Stories? Page Stories could give a boost to Facebook stories but with the same feature available for Instagram Stories, Snapchat, My Story and WhatsApp’s Status it’s highly unlikely.
- Good content disappears. You spent time creating quality content, why would you want it to disappear? 24 hours roll by and then your content is gone for good – unless you saved the content and repost it… which will defeat the purpose of Facebook Stories in the first place. So, is there purpose?
Unknowns
- Will you be able to create Stories on your desktop computer? Most other platforms (Instagram and Snapchat) stories must be created on your mobile phone and the same applies to personal Facebook Stories.
- Will you be able to include links in and to your Stories? That’s the question marketers always want an answer to. A post without a call-to-action feels naked and just wrong. On Instagram only businesses accounts that are verified or have over 10K followers can share a link in their Stories. Will the same apply to Facebook Pages Stories?
Like all new features, we will give it a chance to see if it merits use. However, if they don’t allow for link posting or allow marketers to post from desktop, we don’t believe it will stand a chance against Instagram stories and will not warrant the time and effort. Stay tuned for updates as Facebook Pages Stories unroll…
What do you think? Will you use or engage with Facebook Pages Stories?
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