Last week I dumped my Facebook account. Deactivated it.
It’s funny how people think anyone marketing online must have Facebook, Twitter, Linked-In, etc accounts. When I attended Podcamp Toronto this weekend a couple of people commented directly to me about Facebook:
Someone said:
“I doubt there’s anyone here without a Facebook Account”
I said:
“I don’t have one”
Someone else said:
“You have got to be on Facebook, so many from your market are on there!”
I said:
“No I don’t”
Before I go any further I want to make it clear that I’m not AGAINST using Facebook for marketing. I wouldn’t tell you it won’t work for you and I can’t really say it hasn’t worked for me because I didn’t really try. But for me, for right now it’s the wrong choice and here’s why:
1. My Facebook account was initially just for family and friends. Then recently I thought I’d try adding business contacts and then it just seemed really weird. So instead of spending time I don’t have fixing it I opted out.
2. I just don’t see the point of building up all this traffic OFF-SITE. I mean, I’m working on building up the traffic to my website. Why would I spend time and effort getting people to Facebook only to then drive them to my site. Right now in my business I need to do what I know is going to drive my return on investment and I really see no way to track that with Facebook.
3. All the invitations, games and distractions are just annoying. I mean Facebook is not a business platform, so there’s a big mix of people on there to play and people on there for business. I just would much rather spend my effort marketing to people who I know are actually interested in business stuff. Makes sense to me.
4. I don’t like letting people seeing so much personal info. I know they’ve made some changes to this but I still see people sharing photos and I can then look a whole photo album of someone I don’t know. I also found out that even though I deactivated my account it’s still there. All I have to do is log back in and it’s ‘reactivated’. To me that seems like a violation of privacy but I’m sure I must have agreed to it when I signed up and check that I agreed to the terms and conditions (which nobody reads, right?)
I disagree that I need to be on Facebook because there’s something like 400 million people on there. Without proper target marketing that’s kind of like saying I’m selling to the entire world because I have a website. It seems to me that I’ll get much more attention and have much more control by driving people to my own website, not Facebook, and so that’s what I’m doing for now.
In the future I’m sure I’ll test out Facebook again but for now I’m working on what I know works to bring me highly targeted visitors, opt-ins and sales. Right now that’s blogging, search engine optimization, article marketing, email marketing and video marketing.
I think it’s really important not to just do something because everyone else says you should.
The only person who can really decide what’s right for your business is you.
p.s. I’d love your feedback here. Think about this for a minute: WHY do you log in to Facebook as often as you do?? Is it to find answers to problems (business-oriented) or is it to just kind of catch up with friends? (fun-oriented)
p.s. 
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Awww, come back Angela – LOL! I’m a latecomer to Facebook because for years I did not understand it.
But now that I’m on it (I joined last year), I’m really enjoying it! I use the fan pages strictly for business and my profile for connecting with “new” friends and acquaintances. I don’t use Facebook much for local friends – we still meet in person and quite a few of my friends are not active on Facebook at all (they’re not active on twitter either).
For me Facebook is a true “social network” – so I don’t log on to make a business deal. I log on to learn, to share and to connect with others who have similar interests – both professionally and personally.
In my mind Facebook is getting closer to what the true marketing model is suppose to be – more relationship building, less pitch fest.
But I see your point about wasting time. That’s a personal issue that each of us has to manage in our own way.
Still half a billion people on Facebook is nothing to ignore if you’re sociable AND strategic
.-= Sharon McMillan´s last blog ..Top Three Tools for Marketing Your Online Business =-.
Twitter: AngelaWills
says:
Thanks for your reply Sharon!
You know I guess the bottom line for me is that I know for a fact that article marketing and email marketing are working better for me right now because I can track them.
I don’t see the point of hopping onto facebook, getting social and having no clue what happened as a result. That’s just where I’m at with it. And I’m definitely all for relationship building but I just don’t see Facebook being as valuable for that as places like Podcamp, Wordcamp, Meetups, Tweetups, etc. I’m gonna just save up the time I’d spend on Facebook and use them for actual face to face meetings.
I think when I have a more steady income and a little extra time to play with I’ll try it out again. Half a billion people is great but I really don’t believe they are in the mindset I need them to be in to get the same ROI I can from other sources. So to me it just makes sense to maximize the bigger ROI sources first and then go back to the others later, when I can.
We might have to agree to disagree for now, lol. I might change my mind later though
I’m trying to convince some of my clients to get on Facebook! Facebook wants you to keep the personal and the business separate. Your facebook profile is personal and should stay that way. You only accept friendship requests from personal contacts. Once you have a personal profile you have the ability to then create a Facebook Fan Page for your business. You don’t put the personal stuff there.
Having a Facebook Fan Page can be very worthwhile for your business if your audience is on Facebook anyway. One of my clients is a Yoga instructor. Most of her students are already on Facebook. She is reaching her audience where they want to be reached.
For me Facebook is mainly to see what my personal friends have posted. My business page is rather pathetic. Not every social media tool will work for everyone. You need to test drive them and see what works for you.
I wrote about this in Using Facebook to promote your business.
.-= Ruth Maude´s last blog ..Podcasting 101: What I learned at Podcamp Toronto =-.
Twitter: AngelaWills
says:
Yea I agree Ruth and if (or when) I go back I’m going to definitely keep business and personal separate. It just felt like I was spamming friends and family when I added my blog updates to the personal profile. And then I couldn’t get my fan page to work so I gave up on it, lol.
I guess I’d love to see people who it’s actually really working for. People who can track back email opt-ins or sales from facebook, then I might think it was worth my time.
I know I keep saying this over and over on the blog here but I love using email marketing lately because I can see exactly how many people viewed each article, how many clicked, how many republished and I can SEE my email lists growing as a result – and this is all now on autopilot and will keep working for years to come. Then from my email list(s) I make affiliate sales. To me Facebook can’t even touch that kind of tracking and automation so I just don’t want to go there – at least not now.
Anyway, I feel like I’m being a bit argumentative which I don’t mean to be but I guess I’m feeling pretty strong about my decision.
If Facebook is working that’s awesome and like I said I’m never going to tell people not to use something I haven’t fully tested myself!
Twitter: AngelaWills
says:
Now Twitter, on the other hand, I’ve learned to LOVE, LOVE ,LOVE!
Especially since I won a Flip Mino, a Tassimo Coffee machine and about $100 worth of coffee on there.
For me Facebook is strictly personal. I am friends with a handful of people I know online, business contacts I suppose, but so far that’s worked out fine.
Twitter: AngelaWills
says:
Hey thanks for the reply Tsoniki! Yea you know I was pretty content with FB when I did just have it for family and friends.
I love it! While I love facebook because of the relating potential, that is my field. I am a mentor and social media person so hey I got in where I fit in.
The one thing I tell all my clients is the they gotta get in where they fit in.
Do your thang girl!
Twitter: AngelaWills
says:
Thanks Latara! I’m sure I’ll be back to Facebook at some point but I just can’t afford the distraction right now and it’s just TOO tempting to check in on everyone, spend hours looking at pictures, etc. so for now it’s off.
Hiring someone to do help with social media is a great idea too. Then it’s much less of a distraction and more of a tool so I’m glad you’ve made it your business to help out in that way.
I think like almost everything else it is how you use the tool and look at it. FB is to me not for socializing, not for networking with business associates, not to make money from. Same goes for Twitter. In fact, my Twitter activities have winded down to almost nil because like you, I want to focus on my investment – my own sites.
However… I am not letting go of FB (yet) because of the huge targeted advertising potential. There’s a big difference in trying to post free information, driving traffic to FB and maxing out the friends limit vs using it as an advertising medium.
.-= Lynette Chandler´s last blog ..Why You Shouldn’t Let Product Launches Tick You Off =-.
Twitter: AngelaWills
says:
Great point Lynette and from the little I have heard Facebook gives you amazing targeting potential because of the amount of information they have on everyone who’s signed up.
Thanks for your comment!
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