 | FACEBOOK IS NOT WORKING FOR ME | | | | | Am I wasting my time there? | Posted by Andrew Spencer on 05/07/2012 |
I have talked before about my presence on Facebook and how I've never really been convinced about the benefits of the platform to me. Back in March I thought I might be shutting down my account for a second time; now I am convinced I am. Why is this?
 the functionality of facebook makes it unsuitable for B2B marketing
My objective in plunging into the use of social media was, and still is, to promote my services as an interim manager and consultant. This is a business to business proposition that is quite complex to sell and needs to be supported by strong profile building. I have found that both Linkedin and Twitter have been helpful in achieving this objective and particularly useful in building and projecting profile. My presence on Facebook is achieving nothing in these terms.
I think that Facebook would be useful in marketing to consumers but it remains very much a personal socialising site and the whole functionality of the site is geared in this way - a sophisticated Friends Reunited for those of you that remember that site. And I am not interested in using Facebook in that way.
My Friends on Facebook are not my target market. They are a mix of past colleagues, true friends and some current business contacts made at networking events and via the sblogit.com blogging platform. It is unlikely that I will sell my core services to anyone on this list and I am not attracting Friends to my pages. Indeed the very term Friends sums up Facebook; I dont need chums, I need business contacts/connections and ultimately customers. They are not on Facebook except where they are marketing their own products.
The very structure and functionality of Facebook makes it unsuitable for B2B marketing. I have a personal page, that gets all my updates, and a corporate page for my company, Workload Innovation Ltd, which appears to get no updates at all. Frankly my pages are a mess.
If I am to make sense of Facebook these pages need to merge and become a lot more meaningful. This appears not to be possible on a site that is geared to the dissemination of personal information not corporate. To make sense of my presence will require a lot of effort that is probably not worth it.
That leads to a lesson that I have leant over the last 6 months. Social media is great for building your profile but it is easy to spread oneself too thin. Far better to focus on the avenues that truly make sense for what you are trying to achieve and concentrate effort. My ROI with Facebook is zero so effort expended in that direction should stop. If a monkey is starving, and this monkey is, either feed it or kill it! Sorry to say its the latter.
One more aspect of Facebook is driving me away. I have never trusted FB to protect and respect my personal data. The loss of privacy in other directions, for example through Google, is bad enough without compromising personal data through sites that are not delivering for me. The entire business model of FB means that the temptation to use my data for their own business purposes is overwhelming and all the evidence points to the fact that they do continually use peoples data and are selling it to third parties.
I would welcome feedback on this post. Am I making a mistake, can FB be used effectively for complex B2B marketing? Do tell me if you think so and also if you agree with me. Give me a call on +44 (0) 1908 565 460, click here to ping me an email or leave a comment below.
Until next time ... 
ANDREW SPENCER
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 | During Andrew's extensive business career he has worked in a wide cross section of companies, specialising in the creation of contact centres and business systems, software development, telecommunications and project management. Andrew's key skills are:
Business planning and strategy
Matching technology to business needs
Project management
Software development and implementation
Designing and implementing business systems
His work has included sourcing and implementing a new integrated telecoms system for National Energy Services, designing and project managing a new IT and telephony structure for the Greyhound Racing Association, and directing technology development for Wembley plc.
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