We've about had it with Facebook

[kodydog]

Last January Rose started working for the business full time. Since then our efforts to keep our Facebook page updated has doubled but with little success. Often we make a post once a day 5 days a week. But when we analyze our insights page our numbers are way down. For instance we posted 5 times this week and here are our numbers.

Total page views, down 75%
Post engagements, down 16%
Page likes is flat
People reached is only 151, down 36% This is important because Facebook controls the number of people reached.

I read an article on a business page called Manta. It said organic reach on Facebook will continue to decline to the point it will reach 0%. In another word Facebook wants us to pay to increase our reach. And that's fine Facebook can do whatever they want but it makes me wonder if we should be directing our efforts toward other avenues that have actually sent us customers like Google, our website, Yelp and Houzz. Or should we bite the bullet and pay to boost our posts? 

[MinUph]

Ive "boosted" a couple of time and saw no increase in response from FB. I look at this way. It is another free place to have the name listed. I don't go crazy working it so it only changes when one of us feels like posting something. One thing I do notice is I get an email once a week from FB well two emails that show these insights. They are basically showing the same numbers but one is always terrible and the other is always decent numbers. Makes me wonder each week but for the price I don't care. I have received some posts from customers and I guess possible some business bit no one that I can remember said I saw your fb page so I came to you. Website yes. FB not so.

[kodydog]

Yep, that's what we are seeing. Its almost like whats the point, why keep trying. I can see a large company putting out the dough because they need the exposure. And maybe that is who Facebook is targeting. Companies with deep pockets and a big advertising budget. I guess us little guys can go pound sand. The thing is, when Facebook finally goes 100% paid post reach, we will see all of the other business pages falling in line. Free internet advertising will no longer exist.

[sofadoc]

Nobody just walks down the street.........sees an upholstery shop.........and says "Hey, I think l'll get my couch recovered. It's not an impulse buy. People plan for it well in advance.

I think that might apply to Facebook too. The only people that will ever see your business FB page, are the people that have already made their mind up to have something reupholstered. And most of them will just refer to it for the same general info that could be found on your business card.

A local mom and pop cafe that I eat at wanted me to download their app so they could text me with discounts and specials. The lady was truly hurt when I told her that I didn't want to clog my phone with every app from every retail store on earth. If I did, I'd have to carry around a second phone just to hold all my apps.

With Facebook, websites, Twitter, Instagram, and all the apps that result in spam emails or texts....... There is a sensory overload. I think that even young people that really embrace all the social media are starting to realize that they've given away too much of their privacy.

I deleted my business FB page. I never kept it current anyway. I think it only benefits high traffic retail.

[gene]

I was taught there are two ways to advertise.

The sawed off shotgun: shoot it anywhere and often and hope a pellet hits someone.

The rifle: target a specific person/group and hit the target.

As said, reupholstery is not an impulse buy. Rather, folks make the decision and then go find an upholsterer.

Does FB help you target specific people - people who have already decided to reupholster? Or is FB more of a shotgun approach?

I don't spend any money on advertising. If I did, I'm not sure where I would spend it. I might have high quality posters made and put in furniture stores or fabric stores. I might put an ad occasionally in a local ads that are delivered to specific neighborhoods. Angie's list?

Is your goal to have your name out there so when someone decides to reupholster they will see your name? If so, then you can focus on how to do this. Does an active FB page help or just a FB presence?

I have a new smart phone. My first one. Recently I saw that there were 22 updates for apps that I have no idea what they are. I asked my son about it and he said "Don't worry about it. It's not enough to effect the storage on your phone so it's no big deal."

I think that even young people that really embrace all the social media are starting to realize that they've given away too much of their privacy.

I ate lunch with my son at the best BBQ place in town. I paid with a credit card and the lady asked me if I wanted my receipt. I said yes. I then asked her if old people like me always want their receipts and young people never want there receipts. She and the guy beside her both laughed and said that's correct. Young people have what I think is an unwarranted sense of trust with technology.

My wife has an ap that tells here where the cheapest gas in town is.

Home Depot asks if I want my receipt emailed to me. This is a very clever way to get email addresses for further advertising.

gene

[kodydog]

At Lowes checkout the other day the cashier asked if we have a My Lowes account. Whenever they ask us ours eyes start to glaze over and we quickly say no and we don't want one. But this particular day Rose asked what it was. The lady explained a few years back Lowes tried to go paperless by sending your receipt to your email. She said it never really took off. I guess us old folks like to look at our receipt to make sure they charged right.

Thanks for the Facebook input. I think we will keep our account but just back off a little. Maybe just post our latest projects and spend more time updating and adding pages to our website. Rose has some good ideas for a new Boutique page to sell furniture.  

[sofadoc]

I have a new smart phone. My first one. Recently I saw that there were 22 updates for apps that I have no idea what they are. I asked my son about it and he said "Don't worry about it. It's not enough to effect the storage on your phone so it's no big deal."

That depends on the size of your phone's hard drive. Mine is 12 GB (which I'm told is pretty small for holding a lot of pics and apps). I had to clear out a bunch of apps that my grandson downloaded just to make room for pics.

But even if my hard drive does hold all the apps, I don't want all those icons filling up my home screen.

[kodydog]

Nobody just walks down the street.........sees an upholstery shop.........and says "Hey, I think l'll get my couch recovered. It's not an impulse buy. People plan for it well in advance.

Words of wisdom as usual from SD. But it got me thinking. This week we made two estimates. Both referred from the same customer. Both had chairs (family heirlooms) sitting in a back bedroom that need to be recovered. They've had them for years but never got around to it because they didn't know who to use. There must be hundreds of people out there with the same situation. Word of mouth is great but how to get your name to those others who have never heard of you. Advertise? But where? And at what price?

[gene]

When people find out that I am an upholsterer, they often tell me that they have a furniture item or two that they have been wanting to have reupholstered. I will ask them to send me pictures and basic dimensions of the furniture and I will send them as Estimate for my labor and how much fabric.

Probably 98% of the time I never hear from them. If I see those folks again and ask, I find out that they want the furniture reupholstered, they just don't want to spend any time or money getting it done.

Of the 2% who do send me pictures, 99% of them are shocked by the price. The usual response is that they can buy a new sofa for half the price.

The one person out of many who does reupholster I am very grateful for.

I have found that the person who has their ratty old family heirloom sitting in their living room is more likely to have it reuphosltered than the person who has it stuck back in the basement somewhere. (Or garage for those of you with a water level of 1 foot.

Those are good questions, KodyD. I'm not sure of the answers, but that's worth exploring, IMHO.

gene

[sofadoc]

I'm starting to get quite a few calls from people that got my info on  www.nextdoor.com

Apparently, this is a website divided into local regions so neighbors can refer service providers to each other.
I don't know for sure, since in order to find out, I would have to sign up. And I rarely sign up for anything anymore. I'm tired of my inbox being crammed with spam emails.

It took me forever to get "unsubscribed" from all the Angie's list crap.

[byhammerandhand]

I'm starting to get quite a few calls from people that got my info on  www.nextdoor.com

Apparently, this is a website divided into local regions so neighbors can refer service providers to each other.
I don't know for sure, since in order to find out, I would have to sign up. And I rarely sign up for anything anymore. I'm tired of my inbox being crammed with spam emails.

It took me forever to get "unsubscribed" from all the Angie's list crap.

I've been on "nextdoor" quite a while.   Often people there will ask for a referral for some service.  There is a way if you recommend someone that you can link to their web site.   Personally, I've never asked but referred friends.

I found Angie's List very helpful in getting non-BTB traffic.  I eventually decided to go part time / semi-retire and shut that down.   I do use it to find service providers now, though.

[Mojo]

I have no problem with Facebook. I expect nothing from them and they usually deliver. We did boost a couple of our posts there and it got a lot of views and reach. But I credit the wife for selecting the right categories to boost those posts. We actually got a few orders off it.

Facebook is and never was part of our marketing focus. I treat it as a static page and update it every now and then. We have a friend who is an internet consultant and basically take our marching orders from her. I will not pretend to know the in's and out's of internet marketing and rely on her advice. That is her job and she is damn good at it. She tells us what to do, when to make twitter posts or facebook posts and we do it. She also runs analytics on our website and just by making a few changes in wording along with some strategic twitter posts our search engine ratings went way up.
Now we are starting to see results and orders flow in from our search engine optimization efforts.
That is where her focus was and she delivered.

Our business is internet driven and our main focus has always been our website and coach owner forums. It drives a ton of sales for us. But the vast majority of our sales all come from internet based coach owner forums. We have been working on a program for us to pin point each sale and where the lead came from - friend referral, internet forum referral, our presence at a rally, etc. It drives me bat sh*t crazy not knowing where all the orders are coming from.

We get a few orders off facebook but we never concentrate on it or expect it to be a sales driver for us. But it is a small part of the overall internet marketing plan. It is just a small piece of a large puzzle that co-exists with our website .

Chris