Plenty of Cape Town businesses run entirely off a Facebook page, and some do well from it. The question isn't whether Facebook works. It's what it can't do.
What a Facebook page does well
It's free, it's fast to set up, and everyone already knows how to use it. For a business that sells through community — a bakery, a mobile coffee cart, a market trader — it can genuinely be enough for a while.
It's also where a large share of South Africans spend their attention. Social platforms reach a very substantial portion of the adult population here, and Facebook remains one of the biggest.
Where it quietly costs you
You're renting, not owning. The platform decides who sees your posts. That number has been falling for years and will keep falling. You built the audience; they control the access.
It doesn't catch people who are searching. This is the big one. Somebody with a burst geyser at 6am types "plumber Table View" into Google. They do not open Facebook and browse. A Facebook page rarely appears for that search. A website plus a Google Business Profile does.
It flattens you. Your page looks structurally identical to every competitor's page. You cannot show pricing properly, structure your services, or explain why you're worth more than the cheapest quote.
It's poor for credibility at the top end. A business quoting R40,000 for a job gets checked. A page with 24 likes and a last post from 2023 costs you the work before the conversation starts.
The honest answer
It isn't either-or. Facebook is good at reaching people who already know you exist. A website is good at capturing people who are actively looking for what you sell and don't know you yet.
The practical order for a small business is: get the Google Business Profile verified first, get a small website up second, and keep the Facebook page running as a community channel. The website becomes the hub everything points to.
What's the minimum?
You don't need twelve pages. A five-page site covering what you do, who you do it for, what it costs, proof that you're competent, and how to reach you will out-perform a Facebook page for search-driven enquiries within a few months.
Related reading: Our pricing · Getting on Google Maps in Cape Town · Website design
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