A Facebook or Instagram page is a reasonable way to show finished jobs to people who already know you. It is a weaker way to be found by people who do not. Most established trades end up running both: the social page for word of mouth and repeat customers, a proper website for anyone searching Google or checking you out before they call.
Side by side
Neither is universally better. What matters is which job you need done.
| What matters | Facebook / Instagram page | Your own website |
|---|---|---|
| Who owns it | Meta. Your page, your followers and your reviews all live on their platform, under their rules. | You. The domain and the code are yours, whoever built it. |
| What happens if the platform changes | A reach drop, an account flag or a policy change can cut your visibility overnight, with no warning and no one to call. | Nothing changes unless you change it. It works the same way every day. |
| First impression for a new enquiry | Your page sits inside a feed built to keep people scrolling past you, competing with ads and other pages. | Nothing to distract from your work, your price and how to reach you. |
| Being found on Google | Your page can rank, but it is one generic template competing with millions of others, not built around your services or areas. | Structured around your actual services and the areas you cover, which is what local search results reward. |
| Cost | Free to set up. Reach usually needs boosted posts or ads to stay meaningful. | A one-off or ongoing cost to build, then yours to keep. |
| Effort to keep it useful | Needs regular posts to stay visible in feeds, or reach quietly fades. | Sits there working with no ongoing posting required, though it is easy to update when your work changes. |
Where a Facebook page genuinely wins
- It is free and quick to set up, with no build to commission.
- Local Facebook groups are still where a lot of word-of-mouth recommendations actually happen.
- Posting finished jobs is an easy habit, and people who already follow you see them without you doing anything else.
- Reviews from people in your area carry real weight when a neighbour asks “anyone used a good roofer round here?”
Where it quietly costs you work
- Someone who has never heard of you searches Google, not Facebook. A page built around your specific services and the towns you cover has far more chance of showing up than a generic profile competing with millions of others on Meta's own domain.
- You do not control what happens to it. An algorithm change, a flagged account or a policy update is entirely out of your hands. A site you own keeps working exactly the way you left it.
- It looks the same as everyone else's. Every business gets the same template, the same layout, the same feed competing for attention. There is nothing that says this firm operates at a higher standard than the next one.
- No real home for a quote form, a price guide or a proper gallery. A Facebook post scrolls away. A website page stays exactly where you put it.
The real answer for most trades
Keep the Facebook or Instagram page if it already brings you work — it costs nothing to maintain alongside a website, and it is genuinely good at what it does. Add a website as the place a stranger lands when they search Google, get referred by someone outside your existing network, or want to check you out properly before they pick up the phone. One backs up word of mouth. The other catches everyone word of mouth never reaches.
If you are ready for a site of your own
I build hand-coded sites for UK trades at a fixed price agreed before any work starts, built around your actual services and the areas you cover — the structure a Facebook page cannot give you.