Harold Mansfield
09-10-2018, 11:13 AM
I've about had it with Facebook and have decided to delete my Facebook business page.
Years ago Facebook conned us into creating business pages to engage with our customers and target audience who are already there. But that is not the case anymore. Mike Elgan's article in Computer World (https://www.computerworld.com/article/3304420/social-media/social-media-and-trolls-the-end-is-near.html)pretty much sums it up for me:
With Facebook’s “monopoly on everybody” — which is to say that Facebook has long been the social network with the most users and therefore the strongest network effects — companies were told that they had to be on Facebook because that’s where the customers were, and also because, on social media, messages can go viral, resulting in what is essentially free advertising.
After convincing companies to set up business pages on Facebook and encourage customers to show up on Facebook and “like” the pages, Facebook then proceeded to deliver only a small fraction of posts to only a small fraction of a company’s customers and fans.
A recent Ogilvy study shows that just 1% or 2% of a company’s fans actually see brand posts.
If you want to reach a few more of your own customers on Facebook, you have to pay Facebook.
It's not that I mind paying every now and then to boost a post. It's that now you have to pay to boost EVERY post if you want your followers to actually see it. This has been an ongoing complaint by pretty much everyone with a business or "fan" page for a couple of years now.
Remember when brands used to put in their TV ads "Join us on Facebook"? You don't see that much anymore do you? Because they started figuring it out too.
Seems to me it makes more sense to spend the money boosting readership to your own website/blog than it does to pay Facebook just to put it in front of people who have already asked to follow you and Facebook keeps the traffic, while you exist at their mercy. That may be an acceptable expenditure for a large business with a large budget, but it makes no sense for most small service based businesses who are not brick and mortars.
It makes even less sense if you aren't monetizing your articles and don't live and die everyday by how many clicks you can get THAT DAY.
The final straw for me was when I had to ask permission to change the name of my page, only to be denied and told I would have to start a new page and could not bring my followers with me. I appealed, won the appeal and then they changed my page name for me, to the wrong name. At that point it all culminated into "This is way too much trouble" for what I actually get out of it.
I know Facebook works for those who are running ads and are willing to boost every post, and brands who already have huge followings through various forms on marketing across the web, and other media. I also have clients, like bar owners who do well on Facebook to keep engaged with their local audience and customers.
I still beleive in Facebook ads and their ad technology for many kinds of LOCAL businesses with appropriate budgets. For everyone else, put the time, money and effort into your own website. Not someone else's.
It's just not worth it for me and my type of business.
I'm still good with Twitter. Twitter is still what it promised. I post, people who follow me see the post. Also, I see the posts of people I follow, not the posts that Twitter thinks I'd rather see. Twitter works well for me to compartmentalize and see and engage with exactly what i asked to see and engage with.
As I've always said for years, don't put more effort into driving people to your social media profiles than you do your own website. Your website (and your mailing list) should always be the main focus of your online marketing efforts. It's yours, you own it, and you don't have to worry about someone else changing the rules of who can and can't see your content.
Am I the only one who's had it with Facebook business pages?
Years ago Facebook conned us into creating business pages to engage with our customers and target audience who are already there. But that is not the case anymore. Mike Elgan's article in Computer World (https://www.computerworld.com/article/3304420/social-media/social-media-and-trolls-the-end-is-near.html)pretty much sums it up for me:
With Facebook’s “monopoly on everybody” — which is to say that Facebook has long been the social network with the most users and therefore the strongest network effects — companies were told that they had to be on Facebook because that’s where the customers were, and also because, on social media, messages can go viral, resulting in what is essentially free advertising.
After convincing companies to set up business pages on Facebook and encourage customers to show up on Facebook and “like” the pages, Facebook then proceeded to deliver only a small fraction of posts to only a small fraction of a company’s customers and fans.
A recent Ogilvy study shows that just 1% or 2% of a company’s fans actually see brand posts.
If you want to reach a few more of your own customers on Facebook, you have to pay Facebook.
It's not that I mind paying every now and then to boost a post. It's that now you have to pay to boost EVERY post if you want your followers to actually see it. This has been an ongoing complaint by pretty much everyone with a business or "fan" page for a couple of years now.
Remember when brands used to put in their TV ads "Join us on Facebook"? You don't see that much anymore do you? Because they started figuring it out too.
Seems to me it makes more sense to spend the money boosting readership to your own website/blog than it does to pay Facebook just to put it in front of people who have already asked to follow you and Facebook keeps the traffic, while you exist at their mercy. That may be an acceptable expenditure for a large business with a large budget, but it makes no sense for most small service based businesses who are not brick and mortars.
It makes even less sense if you aren't monetizing your articles and don't live and die everyday by how many clicks you can get THAT DAY.
The final straw for me was when I had to ask permission to change the name of my page, only to be denied and told I would have to start a new page and could not bring my followers with me. I appealed, won the appeal and then they changed my page name for me, to the wrong name. At that point it all culminated into "This is way too much trouble" for what I actually get out of it.
I know Facebook works for those who are running ads and are willing to boost every post, and brands who already have huge followings through various forms on marketing across the web, and other media. I also have clients, like bar owners who do well on Facebook to keep engaged with their local audience and customers.
I still beleive in Facebook ads and their ad technology for many kinds of LOCAL businesses with appropriate budgets. For everyone else, put the time, money and effort into your own website. Not someone else's.
It's just not worth it for me and my type of business.
I'm still good with Twitter. Twitter is still what it promised. I post, people who follow me see the post. Also, I see the posts of people I follow, not the posts that Twitter thinks I'd rather see. Twitter works well for me to compartmentalize and see and engage with exactly what i asked to see and engage with.
As I've always said for years, don't put more effort into driving people to your social media profiles than you do your own website. Your website (and your mailing list) should always be the main focus of your online marketing efforts. It's yours, you own it, and you don't have to worry about someone else changing the rules of who can and can't see your content.
Am I the only one who's had it with Facebook business pages?