Skip to main content

Goodbye Facebook


I decided to deactivate my Facebook account today. I'm hearing a few sharp intakes of breath as some people read this I'm sure. I didn't decide to do it due to any particular problems I've had on Facebook, more cancelled due to lack of interest (on my part).

I opened the account when I opened my Folksy shop as that was what people in the know said you should do when you start a business. And then of course I felt very inadequate because I didn't have hundreds of likers so I joined in the link love thing that was going on at the time and gained quite a few. Great, all these people interested in my jewellery..........except the majority weren't the slightest bit interested in what I make and just did the link love thing in order to gain more likers themselves. Not to be unfair, there were quite a few people who did genuinely like my jewellery and who would comment and like stuff I posted and some have become internet friends and customers which is great.

But what about promoting my business without a Facebook page? Some people have fantastic success using Facebook as a selling tool. Some people. To be honest I've never spent much time on promoting. The majority of followers I had were fellow makers with stuff to sell themselves, not really the target market I should've been aiming for. I do blog which I love and find much more personal and easier to do than Facebook. My shop views from my blog far outweigh my views from Facebook too. I am genuinely baffled when I hear some people claim they spend nearly all day on Facebook. I just cannot imagine what they do on there all day??! What do they do?? Does all that promoting mean they're inundated with sales? Obviously not or else they wouldn't be on Facebook all day. Whenever I used to signed into my Facebook page all I saw was a blur of posts, some I would read and comment/like because they were the one's I really was interested in but most I would just ignore. Ten minutes (maybe) would pass and that would be it, there'd be something else I needed to do so I'd be off. So I suppose I should have hidden lots of posts and just had the one's from people I was interested in show up on my newsfeed. Yes I could've done that but I just didn't care enough to bother (oh dear!) I also wasn't interested in my stats email either and would delete it immediately!

I'm not completely blameless, I didn't really "work" Facebook like I should have but that would've required quite a lot of commitment and time that I prefer to spend on developing my jewellery making skills to make stuff so people can buy it. As someone in the handmade industry I'm aware of the huge number of people on Facebook with lovely things to sell but if I was someone without any links to the handmade world looking to buy a nice bit of handmade jewellery I would Google for it. I wouldn't ever, ever think of going onto Facebook to look for some nice earrings, why would I ? Facebook to most people is a social media site not a shopping site.

I'm not knocking Facebook, it serves a purpose and if I had family/friends in other parts of the world I would use it to keep in touch and post photos. Facebook makes that really easy to do and I may even return one day. Thank you to all of the people who took the time to read and comment or like my posts and to those who posted funny/thought-provoking photos and posts I enjoyed seeing. As for the rest of it, the fake popularity, wasting time promoting your business to people who mostly aren't really interested and most important of all, feeling guilty because I'm not devoting chunks of my time doing it all, I think I'd rather do without it :D

Comments

  1. I agree with everything you have said, promoting on FB is such hard work, those who say they can sell items on FB surprise me aswell. I think all social media can take up all your time, it's hard to find a balance. I'd rather be making jewellery.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I agree with you as Social Sites like Facebook are more of a Networking Place rather than Marketing Platforms. Other forums like Blogs & Pinterest are surely a great way of promoting products like Jewellery.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Your comments and questions are very welcome!
If you would prefer to contact me directly please use the contact form on my "get in touch" page.

Popular posts from this blog

Combining Soldering And Enamel

The need to make cute, brightly coloured enamel studs propelled me into the world of combining soldering with enamel a couple of years ago. I knew from reading up on it that it was possible to enamel and solder on the same piece but wasn't too confident I was able to do it back then. It was a slightly embarrassing occurance that made me just get on with - I'd made some enamel studs with glued on stud posts. I'd used 2 part epoxy resin which was a job in itself as it set hard after 5 minutes so I had to keep mixing more up. The finished studs looked ok but that little voice in my head kept asking "are you sure you want to use glue?" I wasn't but didn't think I had any other way to do it so I used glue. I sold my first pair and merrily sent them on their way to Canada. A couple of week later the buyer got in touch to say the stud post had come off one of the earrings and the other was hanging off. I was mortified, apologized profusely and refunded her m

Etching Silver Using Nail Art Stamps

So my love/hate relationship with etching sterling silver continues. I've tried a few times now and always end up with different results most of them not that great to be honest. I've tried connecting the silver and a piece of copper to a 9v battery and also heating the ferric nitrate. Sometimes the results are good sometimes not so good. I currently have an etched piece of silver sheet waiting to be reticulated and rid it of the mess that is the etched "pattern".  I now know that using stamps and Stayz On ink just doesn't work with silver - the time needed to etch using ferric nitrate is much longer than etching copper and the ink starts to wear away after about an hour. This results in the pattern being patchy as the resist is eaten away and the silver ends up quite lumpy and course looking. I have yet to try using pnp paper. I don't know why but it all seems a bit of a faff to do. I don't have a laser printer so would need to find somewhere or

Embossing Metal With My Sizzix Bigshot

I must admit up until a few weeks ago I was vaguely familiar with the name Sizzix but as to what you actually did with a "Sizzix" I was completely in the dark! That was until I stumbled across a video from Vintaj showing how you could use their embossing folders with a Bigshot to create designs on metal ("metal" - my favourite word after chocolate!) I was really impressed and itching to have a go, I just needed a Bigshot........ I waited a few weeks then when the urge to possess one overcame me I went out debit card at the ready..............and the shop had sold out! So I trundled off to The Range on the off chance and came home clutching my own surprisingly heavy pink and black wonder machine. It sat on the dining room table for a couple of days while I waited for the embossing folders I'd ordered online to arrive then the time came to start playing! I started with some pre-cut 24g copper hearts and the Wildflower Vines and the Butterfly Swirls Deco