Why Copyblogger Is Killing Its Facebook Page

Frank, I've long suspected that Facebook is not my platform. I have a reasonable amount of followers, but now question how many might not be the real deal, and no, I've never paid for 'likes' - no point in it.

My thoughts are starting to turn more and more to LinkedIn and Twitter for me. I like Facebook to stay in touch with friends but am considering closing the page part down. I do get likes on images, but not even close to those on Twitter where I feel more comfortable as I'm not terribly chatty.

Thank you for sharing - I'm very grateful you shared something that backs up what I've suspected.

Zeana -- you've made my day!! Your response is exactly why I share this stuff. I too moved my FB artist page to a LinkedIn company page. I post to FB a couple times per week now but may just drop it all together ... On the personal side I cleaned out my profile and to keep up with real friends I created an group list in email and we all reply to each other that way .... Thank goodness for yahoo conversation threading!

By the way, if you want to start a LinkedIn company page you need a custom email domain. If you don't have one I've heard the free domains at Mail.com work great.

EDIT: sorry I had to update your name. .... Darn that auto correct!!!!

This post is the first I've ever heard of Copyblogger. Not sure what that says about them or me.

Same here Joe ...

Never heard of them either.

They look interesting. I've bookmarked the page to look more into them next week.

Frank,

Nice find. I took my FB embedded links on my FAA bio off about two days ago. I am
missing nothing.

For artists I suspect that the FB groups are dangerous. Let me explain. In the third world
copyright laws do not really apply at all. (I know ironic as all get out that I should care, see
my art, but I do care) So what is in those FB artists groups? Tons of third world free
FB accounts with cell phones taking shots of their work. How is that good for you?

Probably totally counter productive.

I hate any mixing of my fan page with my regular page. The groups are only offered through
the regular page as far as I can see.

Broadcast, Twitter v FB? FB does not even enter the contest. Totally useless.

Real friends? And actual family? Why barrage them with ads? Zero reason. I have
a few sales coming from them, but advertising to them is crazy.

I have no clue about Google Plus and now I wish I knew more. Anyone who uses
Google Plus let us know more? TIA

Ello is highly questionable on a few fronts. No real broadcast yet. No real commercialism. I
never thought I would be pulling for commercialism, but here I am. And the controls
are very limited from what I have seen. I have no clue how they will ever make any money.

I think many of us need to know more about how to expand our Pinterest accounts.

Dave

One should never put links on their FAA bio that takes them away from that page. It's even sillier if you point folks to an AW site. I suspect sometimes we think our prospective buyers are downright idiots and imbeciles. If someone wants to find us bad enough, they will. That's why keywords are so important and why you should add your name as a keyword.

And, David, what's to really stop someone with a cavalier attitude toward copyright laws from taking your work off line from elsewhere? It doesn't have to be just Facebook.

An interesting story and really lays out in detail how and why FB is becoming a total waste of time. It seems like so many of their attempts to increase ad revenue end up being pretty thoroughly 'gamed' and end up as useless generators of noise.

What annoys me is that increasingly, posts that I want to see aren't showing up because of FB's increasingly convoluted attempts to fine-tune my feed into what works for them.

Joseph,

I beg to differ with you on all of that. I will put up my own website later on, so for now I will leave my AW
as my website connection.

I hope followers from one SM follow me on their preference of SM with their audiences. I just dont think
my small audience of family and friends on FB should be involved.

Of course anyone can copy and paste or take in some manner any image. I just want the speed bumps
to be a little higher.

Most viewers are not buyers at all. But they do represent interest in your work. So let them choose
where they like to follow you and bring along a few friends.

If you focused on your Twitter account you would find that if one person RTs your work to their
followers hundreds or thousands of people get a chance to see the work. Perhaps only a small
percentage on a given day will actually see it, but your follower might make it a habit of RTing your
work over months.

If someone on Twitter wants to store any idea from you, he/she would store it on Pinterest. Pinterest
for some young women is where they put future plans to buy into storage. They too have followers that
borrow good ideas for purchases.

I am not the butterfly collector. People can leave my page. They can also bring their friends back to my page.

Dave

All very interesting. Like many of you, FB has proven to be useless for my sales. I have been avoiding Twitter but it might be time to consider it.

I, too, have never heard of Copyblogger.

I have been using my personal page to show my art for a while now, but only recently started an artist's page. I am experimenting with that.

I don't think my personal page has done much for sales. I think most of my sales have come through FAA, and have been other artists, and the others through my blog. But what it has done is familiarize people with my work, and given them a chance to get comfortable with it and decide, yay or nay, how they feel about it, and that's valuable. Most people do like deciding whether or not they like something. They love to do that. People love to judge.

I don't think most of the people I am "friends" with like my art, but those who do and share it stand out, and I see by their reactions it gives them a lift, and I even believe they have come to look forward to my art posts. You have to realize not everyone is interested in art, and most of those who are have very particular tastes and think they know everything, and among those that have a taste for yours, there will be few buyers.

BUT, you are accustoming them to it, just by it being seen. People have to realize this is who I am and what I spend at least half my time doing, and that it is a huge part of my life and identity. They don't have to like it, but they should respect it, as it is not something I leave at the office and go home. I do season how I post it there though. I mostly post to groups through my page and to cottage industry groups so it is not always blatant. People like that, too. They like to watch from afar rather than be confronted. It gives them an out.

So all in all, it gets me known for the type of work I do, and art, seen consistently, shapes tastes, pro or con. How many of us saw each other's work when we first got here and thought, "oh dear what is that?" Maybe we even dismissed it. But after seeing it over and over, and watching the person evolve, and getting to know them through either the forum or our activity pages, have started to understand it better and warm up to it, and at the very least respect it and them.

That's what I count on FB to do and it does do. I am putting it out there, and the more people who see it, can one day say, "Oh that's Anita Dale Livaditis's work, I recognize that, that style, that's her work. I like it/I don't like it. I also know a little bit about her." That's the value of FB. It's not sales, but it serves long term value to me as an artist, being known and recognized for the kind of work I do. It's a long game thing for me. I want my work to be known and recognized. Sales are great but they are not the whole strategy. If they are for you, then I agree, FB is not much good! Ha! Defo not!

The other thing you have to realize is that nearly everyone is selling themselves or something on FB. Their relationships, their kids, their politics, their humor. Sharing, yes, and selling. So don't feel too weird about it.

oh wow, sorry that was long. Obviously I like to write, too. haha.

Anita -- You're spot-on. It is more important to provide value than to sell. In fact, you sell more when you don't sell. The thing about the topic for this thread is to know when you've exhausted your options from ... "It’s not our job to tell our audience where we live. It’s to grow communities where they live."


Again, I would like to share a quote from Jeffery Gitomer that I posted in another thread recently:

TODAY'S REALITY: Do everything you can to use business social media to build brand, image, reputation, and perceived value with your customers and your business community.
YOUR CHALLENGE: Send messages that your customers perceive as valuable to them. Messages so valuable that they will tell others.
BUSINESS SOCIAL MEDIA REALITY: It's not about tweeting; it's about being re-tweeted. It's not about finding someone on LinkedIn; it's about them finding you, and wanting to connect. It's not about searching out someone on Facebook; it's about someone finding your business Facebook Page and "liking" it. It's not about posting a video on YouTube; it's about someone sending your video to someone else.

" ...nearly everyone is selling themselves or something on FB. Their relationships, their kids, their politics, their humor. "

You know, Anita, that is really a very perceptive statement. It's got me thinking.

When I realized that the only way for selling my art there, f/b,...was for good friends/artists, who I admire and befriend, are being used by me expecting, oh horror, them to admire, yes, but as Anita says, they must also SHARE , so their list of nice friends see my Art....people I don't know, who receive their friends' SHARES......and therein lies the 'using' ! Not right! Inevitable obligation, that changes the friendship ..... Am also re-thinking.......agree with you, too, Jim.....

Twitter can be thought of on several different levels.

The first level is as a massive group of people handing out business cards.
It is totally impersonal.

The second level is as groups forming fast and then dissolving over time.
If it is the latest news the group could be massive for an hour and then disappear.
If it is an author or an artist the group could be almost completely intact for
a year or two, and then dissolve.

There are other levels or ways of seeing Twitter. It facilitates business.

I was shocked by how impersonal it all is. It is like a second life.

I remember 15 years ago I moved to a new neighborhood. I looked out
over a new corner of my small state. I drove out one night to a diner I had
never been in. I recreated a large part of my identity in that diner, not to hide anything, but
to forget this or that petty squabble so many people have coming from a small home town.

I made all new friends. It was fun. One friend in particular made it all worthwhile.

Life is really about setting sail.

Dave

Anita,

I call it the soft sell. You can not go fishing without putting out a hook.

But the value is in the worm. At least that is what the fish think.

Less as usual is more. But nothing is still nothing. Dont any of you sell yourselves short.

Dave

https://twitter.com/DavidBridburg

Folks,

I just did something interesting to me at least.

In Twitter I put a link to my Pinterest page as my website.

I only put up my art once a week, but each time I put it up there
are links to FAA involved. This is a good thing. I dont need
my AW site to be my website.

I want to populate my Pinterest page. I know most viewers will not
use this option, but the ones that do or might are highly motivated future buyers.

Dave

I really am enjoying what everyone has to say on this subject, and this thread. Good reading. Thanks Frank.

Frank, I don't understand what this means: "It’s not our job to tell our audience where we live. It’s to grow communities where they live."

Could you or someone explain it?

Anita -- meet your audience where they are ( what social media platform ) and don't expect them to meet you where you are. The who premise of Copyblogger leaving FB is because that is where their audience is not. So, instead of like many who leave their presence on the platform ( like you say ) so they can be found, Copyblogger is just cleaning the slate with FB.

That makes sense. I can't imagine anyone saying, "I feel like buying an art print. I think I will go look on FB." They are much more likely to go on Google and end up some place like FAA, don't you think?

Frank and the crew,

I have had no followers I dont know ever join me on Pinterest. All the accounts are friends or a few longer term FAA members.
The FAA members I did not know and I am glad they liked my work or pins, but they are not female hard core buyers. Not at all.

This morning someone I do not know at all added themselves as a new follower on Pinterest. I can safely assume they
followed me from Twitter. I have no other advertising outlet for Pinterest, except my FAA link to Pinterest. Either way I have finally had
a new follower over there. I am up to 11 followers.

I consider Pinterest as pent up buyers. I want more.

Dave

Anita -- Yes, buyers will look to the search engines if they are looking to buy art prints, and search will bring them here. Sean put out a great email months ago on this concept:

http://fineartamerica.com/why-every-artist-and-photographer-in-the-world-should-be-selling-on-fineartamerica.html

Also, once here they will search again. So you should count on search engines to bring buyers here, then use your keywords for buyers to find you here.

The subject of this thread, though, is to look at your followers and where they are - and the "why" of killing FB if it's not working for your marketing - the people who know you and your artwork and want to follow you,

Dave -- please forgive me, I don't understand what your recent posts about Pinterest have to do with my original post?? Please help me understand your point.

I am sorry Frank, I didn't realize I was getting off the subject of your post. My apologies. I thought it was the yays and nays of FB. I see now where you are going.

David, yes, I have few Pinterest followers too and while I thought one did find me on Twitter, he ended up telling me he found me on FB first, and then started following me on Twitter, and I have no idea how, I don't know where the other follower who I don't know found me.

So, back to the subject, I think, I hope, Frank, how exactly do you know "where your followers are?" I read the article, and they found that out by fishing on FB, didn't they? Or did I miss something? By "where", you mean what social media they are using, correct? Because that could as easily go for physical location, state, country, city. I find I have a lot of people looking and buying from Va. I don't know why. So how would I go where they are? Look for Va. groups on social media?

I love Facebook......over 4k of sales directly from Facebook contacts this year.

Most of them were leftovers from shows.......

These people are crazy. EVERYONE has Facebook. Sure, they want you to pay to use it commercially, as they should (they gotta make money somehow).

I generally find paying quite effective.

Anita -- The article in my OP talks about geographical limiters, and to be honest that's the first I've heard of this. It also mentions that you can't count in your Follower count to be true followers.

Personally, I don't use business social media to make sales. I use business social media to provide value and bring buyers into my email campaign tool. That is where I do my selling. To people who've subscribed and thus want to hear what I have to say. I know this because every time I send an email I get a higher click open rate and more new subscribers ... so people must be sharing my emails.

The article in the OP also referred to "Not every social media outlet is an ideal fit for every brand." Here is their linked article which I find interesting relating to the subject of this thread:

http://www.copyblogger.com/digital-sharecropping/

Anita -- Sorry, I had trigger finger last post. To answer your question " I find I have a lot of people looking and buying from Va. I don't know why. So how would I go where they are? Look for Va. groups on social media? "


Thanks for asking me to clarify. The article in my OP talks about what - social platform - you're finding your customers at, instead of just followers, and not so much geographical location but what social media location. That is what it means when it says to know where your followers are.

I totes agree about the followers Frank. That's an interesting article too, love the skull and crossbones! Pretty scary stuff! If they wanted to scare the pants off us they did a good job! lol!

This all makes sense as to why to build your email list and blog as you have been telling us. Dang, Frank, you could prob write a book about all this soon you have learned so much.

You know though, it got me thinking about the geographical location thing. I am going to look into that.

But, back to what you are saying, how do you know which social media platform they are on? Like Floyd has said, he doesn't know which social media his buyers are coming from because he doesn't have the stats for verifying that on FAA like he does on eBay. So how do you know?

I clicked through one of the links there and found this :

"I’m not talking about demographics, like age, gender, or location — although those matter, too. Rather, I’m talking about the answers behind qualitative questions:
•Who are your community’s influencers and why?
•Which events are your community members attending?
•What will be your first touchpoint with your community?
•Where is your community getting their information and news?
•Where is your community having meaningful conversations?
•How do you choose which headline will resonate best with your audience?"

http://www.copyblogger.com/use-community-data/

it helps to click through the links to understand.

Anita -- sorry for the delay in getting back to you, my dogs were looking at me with yellow eyeballs!!

Your last post is important, but to keep it simple, you know engagement not by number of followers but by number of shares, retweets, reblogs, etc.


On FB for example, if you have a FB page it provides you stats for engagement. This is why at the top of this thread is said the engagement I see from FB is not that great. I compare this to the tremendous engagement I see with WordPress, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Flickr. ... Oh yeah ... About.me. Again, all of these are used to not sell but to differentiate with value.

People don't like to be sold, but they love to buy. I wish that I coined that phrase but Jeffery Gitomer did.

Frank,

To answer your question, why inject Pinterest? We are talking in general terms about
what might be more or less successful as a SM tool.

Dave