People are Leaving Facebook – Don’t Worry

You’ve probably heard that people are leaving Facebook. Don’t panic. That’s more of a problem for Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook stockholders than for you. Just run your business the way you have been running it.

Perhaps in the wake of Facebook’s calamity with Cambridge Analytica and then the whole Russian infiltration scandal, recent media reports state that young Americans are logging out of Facebook, upping their privacy, or deleting its phone app altogether.

Pew Research Center found that found that most adults questioned had limited their Facebook use or adjusted their privacy settings in the past year. The Center’s survey followed revelations that political consulting company Cambridge Analytica had scraped the personal information of approximately 87 million Facebook users for use in targeted advertising. Of the 4,594 Pew survey respondents, young adults were the most likely to unplug from platform, with 44% of Facebook users ages 18 to 29 saying they’d deleted the app from their phone, although the survey did not ask whether respondents had deleted their accounts, too.

The survey asked respondents whether, in the past year, they had either edited their Facebook privacy settings, taken a break from the platform for several weeks, or deleted the app from their phone.

The Pew survey was conducted from May 29 through June 11, two months after a Cambridge Analytica whistleblower first came forward to accuse the company of improperly amassing Facebook user data and converting the information into psychological profiles to use in targeted political ads. The fallout led Cambridge Analytica’s closure, and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg giving a congressional testimony on the scandal.

Facebook’s oldest users were its most loyal, the survey found. Facebook users ages 65 above were the least likely to adjust their privacy options, with only 33% of respondents saying they’d tweaked the settings in the past year. Facebook users ages 18-49, meanwhile, had overwhelmingly moved for more private accounts, with 64% of respondents updating their settings.

Those younger users were most likely to purge Facebook from their phones, with 44% of respondents ages 18 to 29 saying they’d deleted the app. Once again, the oldest Facebook users remained plugged in, with only 12 percent removing the app from their phones.

Zuckerberg also announced that Facebook will adjust the news feed in order to make it more people friendly.

None of this should trouble small businesses that use Facebook as part of their diversified social media outreach campaign. If it’s your only outlet, then, yes, difficulties may be in store for you.
If you’ve been on Facebook for a while, then you should know which of your clients and vendors use this form of social media and certainly you must have been sharing information and observations among yourselves. Perhaps new individuals have already joined you.

If not, find a way to reach out to new customers and vendors in order to build a bigger online community – and that’s the whole purpose of social media. To build communities that share mutually-beneficial information.

Why isn’t this Facebook’s problem a troublesome development for small businesses?

Facebook is a social medium belongs in the category of a closed circle of like-minded people. People ask to join and the content is made available to them. Usually, companies and consumers familiar with your products, vendors and company ask to join. They want to be part of what you have to say. Consequently, this is your almost impenetrable castle. You’ve formed your own little world thanks to Mark Zuckerberg.

The sharing that you’re doing on Facebook is adequate exposure for most businesses. However, content should still be provided to the audience regularly. Touting the benefits of what you do will likely scare visitors away so it would be better if you discussed benefits and issues thereby turning the CEO or business owner into a thought leader. That status has greater merit in the marketplace than “my screws or paint is better than yours.”

Post information about your company or your CEO’s thoughts on industry growth a half a dozen times a week (at least once on the weekend) and then monitor your Insights.

Uploading visually appealing photos and graphics is a cinch thanks to Facebook’s easy-to-use interface and remember a photo is worth a thousand words. The browser-based program shows a grid of thumbnail-sized pictures while the user clicks a checkbox on the photos he or she wants to upload. I would suggest regular photo updates on your company’s work and relationship with vendors and clients to show the market and industry your commitment to satisfying customer needs.

Remember, social media drives word-of-mouth referrals. Potential customers can act as brand ambassadors on social media sites. This, in turn, can lead to more business for you. Potential employees follow this same principle.

A recent study by Market Force in Boulder, CO, found that “81% of US consumers are influenced by their friends’ social media posts, while a comparable 78% are influenced by vendors’ posts, suggesting that company-driven social media content is surprisingly powerful in driving purchase decisions.”

In other words, what goes around on Facebook, comes around.

Being active on social media for your business may be perceived as a free marketing tactic and it is. However, remember, it does take time, which as a small business owner, is at a premium. To keep from feeling overwhelmed, decide how much time you can dedicate to social media activities. Other ideas are to focus your social media time where your customers are spending their time or outsource and hire a social media consultant.
Here are a few ideas to bolster your social media efforts:

• ·         Add a link to your social media pages in your email signature and website.
• ·         Spell out the links in your advertising and marketing collateral.
• ·         Add share buttons to your website or blog.
• ·         Add your social media site addresses to your business cards.
• ·         If you have a newsletter, add share buttons and links to your social media site.
• ·         Post your newsletter articles on your social sites.
• ·         Consider posting discounts or coupons.

Consider your activity on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter as a major part of your marketing strategy not a frivolous attempt of sharing selfies. The time you put into engaging with your customers online will pay off in more loyal customers and larger sales.

There will always be a tendency for the marketplace to adjust its members’ relationships with a product, vendor and social medium. But if you’ve built a strong, vibrant, supportive and mutually beneficial on-line community, then you will do well in cyberspace and in meeting your business goals.

Let me know how this works for you and I’ll share it with others in cyberspace.

Scroll through my blog to read about more ways to boost your outreach.

I’d also like to invite you to visit my Thought Leadership website:

http://thoughtleadership.yolasite.com/              

If you’re looking for advice on recruiting, creating company handbooks and other human resources topics, I’d like to suggest to you this interesting website:

http://hrtiebreaker.yolasite.com/