With all the crazy scandal over Facebook and people swearing off the platform, the big question is, should you still advertise on Facebook?
The start of the school year is my favorite time to reflect on the state of my business and determine how I want to finish out the year.
This year has been a bit of a crazy rollercoaster in the Facebook world with their scandals, but the thing to remember is that while Facebook is a company that has made some missteps, it has also created a place for millions of people to connect that didn’t exist before.
I’m probably dating myself here, but I remember struggling to find communities in the early days of the Internet. I remember sitting in front of the computer screen one day with Google open thinking, ‘that’s it, I’ve discovered everything the Internet has to offer. There isn’t anything else for me here.”
I was not interested in weird chat rooms, the clunky Yahoo group forums (remember those?), or individual site forums. So, I was basically done with the internet.
But then, my brother introduced me to Facebook.
Suddenly, I could connect with people who had the same interests as me, even though they lived states away.
In the earliest days, we connected over things like, “I flip my pillow to the cool side” and Harry Potter (HP forever!).
When I became a parent, I turned to resources on parenting and found ways to connect with real-life parents in my life with meet-ups and events.
I’m typically an introverted person, and through online community, I’ve been able to have experiences I never would have otherwise.
Facebook is getting a lot of hate right now for betraying privacy and the trust of its community, and that should be examined, but it is also important to recognize that the company has also done amazing things to build communities and strengthen communication between families.
Sure, there are other apps now that provide similar connection (for the low price of your personal information), but there is a reason that over 2 billion people keep connecting via Facebook.
There aren’t many other apps where you can chat with your grandmother, look at pictures from the past, learn a new skill, build a business, see what your friends are up to, and plan local meet-ups all in one place (and as long as you stay away from the Facebook banned words, you’re golden!)
And that is why I use Facebook as one of the main marketing tools for my clients’ businesses. There are few other places where people gather and connect in the same way, and are also OK with making purchases through the app.
So, if Facebook isn’t working for your business right now, don’t blame the platform or the scandals. It’s likely that all you need to grow your business online is a few tweaks to your marketing strategy to focus on connection over sales.
If this interests you, I’d love to chat more.