It was bound to happen
Today, me and Facebook are breaking up. It won’t be a tearful break up, in fact, I know that the other half of this relationship won’t even notice me gone as I am but a blip on their radar. In other words, I’m a small business with a small Facebook following who wanted to just use Facebook as a way of communicating with my customers and prospects.
Facebook for Business says “show me the money”
Forbes has said it and Ad Age pointed out that Facebook themselves have said it: as a small business, getting your Business Page posts seen by your fans is going to involve cold, hard cash.
As a small business, buying loyalty is not something I have any ethical interest in at.all. I want people to come to me because they’ve read testimonials about me, asked around about me, met me and anything else that doesn’t involve the greasy slicking of palms. Hearing about other people buying testimonials makes me feel ill; the thought of me handing over money to Facebook just to push my posts on to people’s newsfeeds turns me green. In the end, Facebook’s positioning turns what I’m trying to do with social media (build relationships; have conversations; share knowledge; a bit of lead generation) into just one thing: advertising what I do with no regard for how others want to interact with me.
So no, Facebook, you’re just not right for my business
I’m going to take my own advice in my previous social media post and stick to the social media channels that I enjoy the most and that help me build those relationships: for me, that’s Twitter; LinkedIn; and Google Plus. I’m not being a complete naysayer as a previous experience has shown me what completely breaking up with Facebook looks like: a dramatic downturn in my social life! But, it’s just not working for my business. So, farewell Facebook Business page, I’m sure I will survive.
I’d love to hear if you’ve had more success than me with Facebook Business pages as I’m always keen to learn from others (though it won’t change my mind on hitting that Delete button!) so comment below or grab me on my social media channels of choice!
And so the exodus begins … I’ve been getting more and more intrigued about Google+ these days, I must admit!
Google + has been a joy for me so far – Hangouts is the next stage for me! Cheers for the comment, Jeremy.
Finally, someone says it-not just “I’m leaving”, but gives great points for why they are doing so. I have been so conflicted as to whether or not I should implement Facebook for my business. I almost feel obligated to; after all, it seems to be an industry standard. But, at the end of the day it feels like a waste of time. I think I will be joining in the movement, but rather than breaking up, I’m not going to begin the relationship! Thanks so much for this post! 🙂
Many thanks for your comment, Danielle. Yep, sometimes it’s easier not to even start that relationship. Figuring out what you want to get out of social media means you can go the way you want to go for your business guiltfree!