Facebook Marketing or Displacement Activity!!

Remember when you had revision to do for exams and you couldn't possibly do it until your whole house was tidy, your notes were alphabetised,  you had walked the dog or some other really lame excuse or as its technically called, displacement activity?  Well I think running a business using Facebook as a platform can be like that sometimes.

Facebook as a marketing and exposure tool is brilliant.  Its accessible to billions, they can share your page with their friends, 'like' you and interact with you and the main attraction for many new sellers is that its FREE!  But is it really?  Well in terms of money changing hands yes it is free in that you don't give any money to Facebook, however all that free marketing does come at a price, and the price you pay is your time.

As someone wise once said to me, 'If you waste my time you can't give it back to me' -  never a truer word was spoken.  I run my business through Facebook and believe me the time costs involved are enormous.  Its very quick and easy to post some pictures and post a couple of status updates each day.  So what's the big deal? 

Well in addition there is a lot of what can only be described as 'hanging around' that goes on.  You check your news feed and have a look at what other pages are up to, then write a few comments on there, like a few of their pictures, may be thnk about buying something, go back see if anyone has commented under your comments and so on.  Then when you decide you are finished and will get on with some 'real' work you get a notification or 10 that someone has liked you picture and people have posted comments, placed orders or asked questions.  So with great excitement you read the comments and make some of your own comments and again you decide to put the laptop down and get on wth some work.....................but there are more notifications and more comments!!  And so it goes on all day. 

Now I have learned my lesson and I do try to be quite self disciplined and in the few hours a week I get to work I don't look at the laptop at all, I just get on with my work.  The rest of the time it's not so easy. 

In addition, during your time on Facebook you make virtual friends, either with our customers or with other page owners and you can end up spending half your life chatting.  Now this is fine if you really have nothing better to do and like me you don't get out much, but you do need to be a bit careful.  You will end up chatting so much you forget why you have a page on Facebook in the first place and end up with no time to actually do what ever it is you do to earn any money! 

You will also find that there is an awful lot of what can only be called 'politics' which goes on - gossip, bitching and backstabbing.  Its a sad state of affairs but its true.  Daily occurrances range from who has copied who, who has stolen from who, who should or should not be allowed to post things on other peoples pages through to the real life tradgedy and excitement of normal day to day living played out on screen for the workd to see and comment on.  I say this not to belittle anyones experiences or their right to type whatever they choose on their status, but from the point of view of a time saving, cost effective marketing tool Facebook fails on just about every level unless you are very very careful. 

Now add into the mix the fact that potential customers will comment on things and then never return after you spend time finding them just the right size or colour whatever it was to answer their query, or order things and then fail to provide an email address for you to invoice them, or if you do manage to invoice them they leave you hanging as to whether they will or won't pay the invoice, and you will find that suddenly your time to do what it is you do that earns you any money or at least has a tangible outcome has completely disappeared into thin air. 

So top tips -

• Self discipline is key when using Facebook - Set a time limit each day and think about what you want to achieve from your page or you may find yourself sitting around aimlessly waiting for 'things' to happen.
• Do not allow your customers to manage your time for you - sitting around waiting for people to make comments is strangly addictive AND a complete waste of time.
• Work smart, if you know that posting new pictures causes a Facebook frenzy on your page - post and RUN!! Come back later to deal with the aftermath and deal with all the queries at once.  Perhaps put your email address on the posts and state that all new orders must be emailed through?  People will still post on your wall and pictures but eventually they will take the hint and then it makes your life easier as you can set up a system for dealing with queries and orders.
• Find your own balance between enjoying the banter and getting to know your customers, and actually getting the job done.

Running your Facebook page can become all consuming, so have fun but don't forget it is only a virtual world so put the laptop down and step away -  back into reality once in a while!!!