Why the Hell Are You Even on Facebook?

500, 2,000, 20,000…does any number make a difference?

If you’re looking for “earned” content marketing on Facebook, the answer is “probably not.”

The reality after this Spring’s most recent NewsFeed algorithm updates is that Facebook Pages—the ones used by businesses—are generating appalling user engagement rates. This is not breaking news to those who follow social media or content marketing, but the rates (often less than 2-percent) remain a monolithic problem for companies investing heavily in social media. And as long as Facebook remains the leading network, that’s not likely to change.

There are work-arounds to the problem. Of course, they mostly involve investing even more resources into Facebook; that means more time devoted to contests and more money devoted to advertising to fans brands have already paid to acquire in the first place.

So rather than detail a list of how many ways you can fix the issue, let’s address the root problem.

Why the hell are you even on Facebook?

Right. Because your competitors are. Because clients will judge you on the proverbial social media measuring stick if you’re not. But let’s be honest for a moment…

If that Business Page is costing you money and generating no income, who gives a shit? Click to Tweet

This is coming from a responsive web design company; a company who prides itself on riding the cutting-edge of connectivity with technology. We build every website to look beautiful on mobile, and why is mobile internet so popular? In large part because of social media and Facebook in particular. But read the writing on the wall (even if it is just our wall):

2,534 “likes” as of this moment. Engagement rate? Right on par at 1-2 percent of those fans. Facebook is doing virtually nothing to promote our product. We’ve had ONE referral from the world’s leading social media platform in 12 months.

That’s not so much a complaint as it is a juxtaposition for Twitter.

Yes, Twitter. Unlike Facebook, Twitter newsfeeds are not filtered. Yes, you can pay to “boost” your tweets, but in large part, what you post is what people see. The results? 4,661 followers.

That’s nearly double our Facebook fan count. But the real story is in user engagement. Some posts flop, but every few days we stumble upon a post that generates hundreds of retweets. And better yet, those posts are generating engagement with other people in the web design industry as well as clients.

Through Twitter, we’ve found graphic designers, copywriters, web developers and clients alike. It’s a good investment for us. It’s engaging to followers. It’s what social media is supposed to be about.

So ask yourself again—why the hell are you even on Facebook?

It’s time to take social media back into your own hands. The first step is searching for the right platform. You have to find your audience. Ours was on Twitter, but yours may be somewhere else— Instagram? Pinterest? Snapchat? Stumbleupon? Dare we even say Google Plus?

All are unfiltered and offer considerably higher potential return on investment than Facebook. All are good places to start breaking off the chains of pay-to-play “earned” marketing—which as it turns out— isn’t exactly earned after all.

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