Facebook throws a scare at the small business owner
Once upon a time… as in yesterday The mighty Facebook decided in it’s infinite wisdom to eliminate the ability for a Facebook Page to set a landing tab for new visitors. This is critical to many page owners as the preferred landing tab can convert the casual visitor to what was formerly called Fans, now called “Like”.
This was not the case for every page, if you happened to have over 10,000 “likes” (fans) you could still set your tabs… <yeah, right>
Upon hearing the news, virtually the entire community of page owners started gathering in the town square with torches and pitchforks threatening to storm Castle Facebook.
“How could Facebook do this?”
“The company is run by twenty year olds – what do they know?”
“They are killing small business! They are killing MY business!”
The whole world was obviously coming to an end. Chicken Little was right. A bitter darkness reigned throughout the land.
But then at sunrise, for some unknown reason, the powers decided to reverse their decision and all is back to the way it was.
It’s a miracle! The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, and page owners across the land are setting their landing tabs.
And somewhere, Mark Zuckerberg is chuckling to himself as he decides what to mess with next.
The Moral of the Story (every story has to have a moral right?)
What can we learn from this near death experience? Facebook is not your sandbox, it’s his. He’s allowing you to play for a while. It’s his rules. If he wants to pick up his pail and shovel and go home, he can – anytime. If you are a small business owner you have the obligation to own your own stuff. Don’t use Facebook as your website. Don’t use Facebook as your blog. Own your own blog, own your own website. Write your articles there, then share them on Facebook. It might be the best tool in your toolbox but shouldn’t be the only one.
Disclosure: I build custom tabs and upon hearing the news was seriously wondering where all my business was going to go. This morning I contrived a workable solution to the problem – just in case Mark decides once again to mess with something.
How are you protecting yourself?
photo credit: Crunchies2009
JoeColleen
Posted at 07:22h, 21 MayHmm, I guess we were ok, as we haven't developed a landing tab for visitors. We've been using Facebook to connect with the community on a relationship and social level. I understand folks are generating business from Facebook, but I wonder if a person has just a few hours to commit to marketing in a given day, if the time spent is better used on blogging and search engine optimization. I wonder what your thoughts are on this Mike, as I know you are a big Facebook guy. I've enjoyed your time as a ActiveRain University webinar presenter.
mikemueller
Posted at 07:30h, 21 MayI'm a huge advocate of spending minutes a day on anything. Go write a blog post on your “home base”, then use all these other tools like twitter, facebook, linkedin, posterous to get that message out in front of as many eyeballs as you can. The key is having that “home base”.
I'm also in the camp that a custom tab can lead to higher conversion rates. We all have a very short attention span. Often times I get to a page (no matter what drove me there) and it's a wall with just broadcasts. I'm out of there never to come back. If by chance I land on a custom tab that has a video embedded welcoming to the page, suggesting to “like” the page, I'm slowed down, I pay closer attention, and more often than not I click that LIKE button.
When I do, I may never come back to the page again but I've just given you permission to publish content to my stream. That's why I see the FAN Conversion as the Holy Grail – it's lead capture Facebook style.
Robby Ricks
Posted at 07:28h, 21 MayI like the sandbox analogy. Good idea to get another sandbox prepared. I need to get off my duff and do this.
Ken Brand
Posted at 07:40h, 21 MayYeah, you gotta be ready for any surprise. Not ready like I'm ready to go to plan b, ready as in don't be surprised.
It seems to me there a definite pattern. Facebook will throw something into the punch on purpose, some times it's fruit and some times something smelly, in any event, it seems they generally respond to outrage and pull back just a bit, but they don't pull all the way out, just enough so it seems to stop hurting and you think they care….then when you're feeling all safe, then they throw something else in the mix, see how people shout and scream, then pull back a bit…all the while moving forward. Sorta like oil companies raising gas prices. They throw prices real high, claim there's a shortage and report record profits. People scream they retrace prices a little, but the new mental price anchor is set, then they inch it up and so on. Seems this is how big business is done these days.
I'm glad you're still able to provide an important service and small business owners still have an effective marketing tool.
Cheers Mike, rock on.
Mike Price
Posted at 09:49h, 21 MayThis goes to the heart of an issue myself and others have spoken to so many times. If you're building your marketing platform on house of cards that all say “free” on them, you run this risk of it tumbling down around you. Despite what the cool kids and magazine editors that make up neato new marketing phrases say, “free” is a very, very limited business opportunity. Even when it does work, it has to be constantly toyed with to mold to constantly moving targets.
Facebook is strugging to find ways to justify a market cap that makes no sense in the long run. I've been under the pressure of investors before. Granted they were MUCH smaller investments, which usually generate greater pressure, but it's pressure none the less and the people that have thrown huge coin into Facebook are looking at it's boy genius to show them the beef. What they are going to be required to sell in order to do so may end up being their undoing unless pepole smarter than Zuckerberg can figure it out. The constant pushing of the envelope and the trial balloons are designed to find the pressure points the on the user base and it runs the risks of an all out explosion. They ran the numbers up fast, a few more really public screw ups and they could see them declining even more rapidly.
My advice? Build your marketing aresenal with a foundation of tools that are under your control and make up the bigger percentage of conversionable leads you need to meet your minimum goals. Then tinker with the cool new stuff, the free shiny new toys and such, understanding that at any time, someone could change the game or end it abruptly – A Facebook strategy should be at the top of the shakiest part of your house of marketing cards.
Brad Coy
Posted at 19:54h, 21 MayWith the amount of negativity Facebook has been generating lately, I can't help but see them as becoming a 'necessary evil' for Small Busnisses while Google continues just being 'necessary'.
Rob Dalton
Posted at 19:24h, 23 MayYes, Facebook has managed to get a lot of publicity lately. The thing that got me was them trying to have their own little search engine. I just don't see people using Facebook for that.
basab candles
Posted at 09:03h, 24 MayI think it is helpful somehow.
SEO Services
Posted at 22:12h, 24 MayHi
It is really a new way of using Facebook. Several new things available for this now.
Julie
Posted at 15:39h, 28 MayIf people are leaving Facebook, should we be following where they go? And how do you figure out what other social networking sites would be useful to Realtors? I've found one blog post that says that it's a good idea to have several social networking profiles to maximize your networking opportunities, but how can you tell if one is better than the others?
Carmen Brodeur
Posted at 22:18h, 28 MayYet another example of why you can't build your marketing entirely on free services that someone else owns. Go ahead and use facebook as one portion of your online marketing but don't rely on it, or anything else, too much. You have to own your website, own your blog and use the free services as extra bonuses.
Darren Sneil
Posted at 13:50h, 04 JuneYou really cant soley rely on these social media services to drive your business. the day that one closes its doors is the day your business dies along with it. Let this be a lesson to small businesses. Interesting concept in the article!
Darren Sneil
Posted at 20:50h, 04 JuneYou really cant soley rely on these social media services to drive your business. the day that one closes its doors is the day your business dies along with it. Let this be a lesson to small businesses. Interesting concept in the article!