I’ve made it no secret over the past couple of months that I don’t think Facebook is a useful tool for businesses. Recently, I told you how:
- Facebook is ruining my social life due to all my business contacts who are now trying to be friends with the 15 year old youths from my church who are on my friends list, and;
- Facebook is penalizing you if you are too popular, given what happened to Nathan Stobezki who got kicked off of Facebook after fans of his fashion website started to send close to 50 friend requests to Nathan a week.
It appears that Facebook is clamping down on your popularity. It’s beginning to become less useful for business folks who have a large client base.
My friend, Nancy Marmolejo, who blogs over at Viva Visibility, has an excellent post containing some tips on how NOT to get banned on Facebook. These tips come via Maria Reyes-McDavis and she states:
- Don’t use applications.
- Don’t send messages to more than 20 people in a given day.
- Be careful of the groups you belong to.
- Don’t become a fan of someone who is on Facebook’s radar.
I feel as if I’ve been sent to the Facebook principal’s office. So, I can’t be too popular, I can’t have fun and I might as well just sit on my hands when I login to Facebook. How effective can it be for me to send a message to just 20 people a day? Not effective at all.
You know what? I’ll stick to my blog, podcast, Twitter and ezine in my online marketing toolkit. I can’t be bothered with Facebook any longer.
Leesa,
I’m on the fence, still actively using it, but have to say — it’s a little scary how many solopreneurs are using it as their only KEY tool right now. Not smart.
I absolutely love your honesty and integrity at telling it how it is!
Thanks for, yet, another great post!
Maria 🙂
Ahhh…the relationships. How could I forget?
Hmmm,
I’m with Nancy on this one. In fact, this morning’s Facebook login may yield a teleseminar in the coming weeks and a joint venture with an online start-up after they launch in a few months.
I’m loving me some Facebook today! But, Leesa, your concerns are valid so thanks for sounding the alarm so consistently.
I’m new to the social media space but if I find a lot of my clients/prospects are on Facebook, then I’d much rather find a way to communicate with them on my terms: ezine, RSS feed, direct mail.
Otherwise, perhaps keeping your group of friends small and manageable is the best way? That and placing soft calls to action to visit you “hors Facebook” (on your website, at your offline store, etc) so that you’re not confined to their growing restrictions.
Leesa:
What I find is that if you go in w/ a relationship building mindset, then numbers don’t matter. It’s quality connections, not quantity.
I get the most out of Facebook when I take my mind off numbers and focus on individuals I want to connect with. 🙂