To Facebook or Not to Facebook, That is the Question

The Facebook Controversy

I’ve been getting ready for what I call Workshop Season. This is the time of year when I start teaching social media local workshops to small business owners.

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been doing research for not just one but two Facebook workshops that I’ll be teaching in the Orlando area. In between reading about the latest Facebook features and what they do, I came across this article: Why Copyblogger is killing its Facebook page

This post has been circling around the social world so if you haven’t had a chance to read, it, go ahead. I’ll wait …

When I first saw it, I read through it slowly and then just to make sure I got all the details, I read it again.

Then I was like WHAT???? The Copyblogger folks are big social influencers. They know how to work their social media content to grow their site traffic.

They do it with ease. They do it with great blog posts that seem effortlessly for them to write. And they do it with big share numbers.

They’re not a small business like we are. We post, we track, we watch these big guys for what to do next.

I know I’ve personally been struggling with my company’s Facebook fan page but Copyblogger? Honestly, my first response was, “Whew, thank goodness it’s not just me!”

And then I appreciated the transparency in their article as they explained their decision. It made me want to really re-think my whole Facebook fan page strategy.

What they should have done

So with all that Facebok stuff moving around my head, I stumbled into this next bit of research: What Copyblogger could have done with its Facebook page

This is a long post filled with loads of information for you to read. It shares lots of good tips to help you break down your Facebook Insights to really see who your fans are and to dig deep into your audience.

{ Please note: This information isn’t located in the basic Insights section in your fan page admin area. You’ll need to go into the Ad Manager and go through the steps like you’re going to create an ad. And Facebook will only provide this information for you if your page has over 1,000 fans. }

The post does a great job of breaking down why Copyblogger may have struggled and then gives us several recommendations to how they could have kept their page alive. It’s great advice if you have tons of online products to promote and you’re getting over 800,000 page views a month.

But the best part happens when you hit the comment section. The article shifts from “this is what they should have done” (specifically buy Facebook ads) into a real-life conversation about Facebook marketing with some of the top social media influencers.

It’s clear that everyone had an opinion on what Copyblogger should have done, what they could have done and had they hired this guy or that one, what they would have done.

Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda.

Facebook and small business owners

The whole thing got me thinking about how this Facebook controversy relates to small business owners. If one of us shuts down our Facebook fan page, would anyone be discussing all the great reasons why we should keep our businesses on the site?

I could go through all those Audience Insight steps and I’m sure that I’d find that my target audience is the same group of people who are active Facebook users. So then why aren’t they clicking my links and commenting on my posts?

I could ask questions all day but I already know the answers.

I could easily break into an hour long dissertation on the new Facebook algorithm. And then follow it up with how to use images to make my posts pop more in the news feed.

Or I could go into a whole thing about ‘find out where your audience hangs out’ – but we know from the Facebook stats that my target is there on Facebook.

They’re clicking the Like button on their friend’s vacation pictures. They’re sharing videos about funny cats and dogs. They’re taking pictures of what they just ate for dinner.

Or I could get into the ‘not every social network is going to work for everyone.’ I could pull out that advice about how if a social site is not working for you, don’t spend your valuable time on there. Just find out the best place you can connect with your audience.

But we both know it’s more than just that. Facebook has turned into a “pay to play” site for small businesses.

And for those of us small business owners using Facebook, this is the reality that we live in.

Now, I’m going to do something I don’t normally do – I want to ask my readers to comment and give me your story. I’d love to hear from other small business owners out there about your experience with Facebook.

Is it working for you? Or are you even really working it?

 

Photo credit: Facebook Beachfront

PS What if you could find a way to grow your presence in your social sites? And what if it didn’t add hours to your already crazy day? What if it took just 30 minutes a few times a week?

Click here to download my 30 Minute Social Sessions workbook and I’ll give you steps you can do once or twice a week for 30 minutes to help you get your message heard by the people who want to buy your stuff.