Most people focus on how to add their WordPress Blog to Facebook but no-one seems to ask if they should. Recently someone asked that question. They wanted to understand what was the point of putting their WordPress blog on Facebook. It was a great question. It stimulated a lot of debate. So here is the summary of the pros and cons that ensued of adding an iFrame of your WordPress blog on Facebook.
Pros
- You get the control of owning your own domain and content, so when people visit your Facebook page, they also interact with your website – it is just within Facebook.
- Your customers get the security and comfort of staying within Facebook. This is good as research indicates that people don’t want to leave Facebook. So having your blog in Facebook means you can keep them inside of Facebook but still browse your website.
- WordPress makes it easier to use than creating straight HTML pages. Being able to control and update both your website and Facebook Pages from the one interface has a lot of appeal. You can replicate your entire website inside of Facebook if you wanted to.
- It provides another way to drive traffic back to your website (assuming you have interesting content of course).
Cons
- There is no structured purpose for having your website pulled in as an iFrame.
- Some blogs cover a wide variety of topics which may not be suitable for a Fan Page if it is focused on a specific topic.
- Your audience will get more from your content if you ask them what they want, then deliver it to them, rather than dump it all in a pile for them to search through
- Facebook is about real time and interaction. Whilst a blog encourages interaction, it isn’t real time and it therefore it is less engaging than asking questions. This breaks the golden rule of Social Media to be present and engage with your readers.
My conclusion, integrate your blog with Facebook if you must but don’t hang your hat on it or make it your main purpose for your Facebook page. I suggest running it behind the main page so readers can find out more and stay within the confines of Facebook. However, you can and should encourage interaction with your visitors. Somehow I suspect that if I had put this post on my Facebook Fan Page, it would not have had anywhere near the level of interaction and engagement than the question that was asked.
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