Do you need to be on Facebook?

Kathleen Shannon 0:03
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Caitlin Brehm 0:45
Okay, guys, last week, we talked about Instagram, and our love of Instagram and our tips for Instagram. And this week, let's talk about Facebook, which might have a totally different tune.

Emily Thompson 0:59
Let's do it. Because I've hated Facebook for many, many years, like you've been totally opposed and appalled by it for sure. I remember, whenever I got on Facebook, fucking 12 years ago, let's just like throw 12 years ago when I got on Facebook. I remember like all of my like school mates and stuff. Were on Facebook. And I remember the creepy people started to get on Facebook and by creepy people. I mean, the people who were like 21 or would like to old at 21 they were too old. They needed to have jobs and be getting shit done. And I remember way back then thinking okay, whatever I turned 21 I'm

Caitlin Brehm 1:44
good off. It's funny, because like Facebook was originally created for 221 year olds. Like it was a college platform. Right?

Emily Thompson 1:52
Well at 21 it should be graduating college, you should be graduating by then, and definitely have a job. So I was really just as bitchy, then as I am now. And I really, my goal was always to get off of Facebook whenever I turned 21. And then 21 rolled around, and then everyone's just getting on Facebook. So it didn't happen. And I remember thinking, when my mom gets Facebook, I quit. And then a couple years later, my mom gets Facebook. And yet I'm still there. And I'm only there for business. I don't like it. Let's talk about it.

Kathleen Shannon 2:26
Yeah, so I was never mad about Facebook. I've always been fine with it. Um, but with some of the, I mean, the reason why Caitlin was just telling us before we start recording that her mom is like, I'm leaving Facebook, and here's why. And it's like, because they know a lot about us. And like, you know, maybe their ethics aren't like super onpoint. And those are kind of the reasons why I want to quit two

Emily Thompson 2:53
really important reasons. And if like, if that were the company that makes your, you know, hamburger patties, you'd probably just stopped buying those hamburger patties without laughing about it.

Kathleen Shannon 3:03
You're exactly right. Like, I don't eat at McDonald's. Why am I on Facebook? Yeah, yeah. Okay, so here's the deal also with Facebook is that, I think that there's like just this, if Facebook has a company culture, right, and it's so funny because Facebook owns Instagram, like that is not lost on me. And I love Instagram. But whenever it comes to like the tone that people have on Facebook versus Instagram, like Instagram still like a happy, fun, beautiful place to be. Facebook is dark, and angry, and political, and Moody, and sad. I don't know. I just feel like, I never feel good whenever I'm on Facebook. So like, that's kind of probably more around the reason why I want to leave also the big brother stuff like I really do feel like the stuff that like George Orwell was warning us about has come to fruition.

Emily Thompson 3:57
Yes, but and not just Facebook, but Instagram, which like maybe that needs to be a whole other full episode on its own. Or we're talking about why we're okay with Instagram and not Facebook, I think I need to do some soul searching around that one first. But But my biggest thing with Facebook too, is really whenever I think about who I want to be surrounding myself with what I want to be doing all day, all of those things. It's rarely with the people who are hanging out on Facebook all the time, and definitely not reading all the things that are there. So we've even done some things were you know, we're thinking about where do we find our dream customer, like some hardcore like online business marketing things. And we're preaching over here, do the work, be boss, and you're not doing the work if you're hanging out on Facebook all day, and if you're not doing the work because you're hanging out on Facebook all day, then you're not being bolstering customer. So that for us is one big reason why we do see Facebook as potentially not being a platform that we put much more energy in too as a business,

Caitlin Brehm 5:02
I know, you just mean hanging out on Facebook versus Instagram because Facebook is that, quote unquote dark, depressing political place.

Emily Thompson 5:11
It also the time, time and energy to like go through read all the posts comment on the thing like it blah blah blah. Whereas like Instagram always feel like it's so much more just you're scrolling around looking at photos, which agreed, I don't think our dream customers are spending as much time on Instagram either. But they are looking for inspiration as opposed to things that are going to make them sad and depressed.

Kathleen Shannon 5:38
So I kind of feel this Facebook rat race happening amongst business owners where like, they all feel like they should be on Facebook, I know that every time I work with a breed creative client, one of the exercises that we take them through is where they're sharing their content. And we have them list out every single place they're showing up. So whether that be a blog, a podcast, YouTube, I certainly like it better whenever it's a place where you can create an express original content. And I think that's one of my biggest problems with Facebook is that it's a lot of people like regurgitating and sharing other content that is not their own. I like being in a place. And I think this is probably what you're talking about Emily, whenever it comes to our own dream customer for being boss, like we like being in places and hanging out with people who are creating something. So we like hanging out with podcasters bloggers, photographers, people who are spending their time making stuff and expressing themselves. And I feel like Facebook isn't super conducive for that. Um, but I do feel like there's this rat race where people feel like they should be on Facebook, because everybody is there. It's almost like the modern day phone book on steroids, right? Like, it's just where you can connect with people and get a hold of them. And this is why it makes it so freaking hard to quit. When you turn 21. When your mom joins, like all you have all these different cutoff dates, and even as I think about like, Okay, what if I just did leave Facebook, like, I don't care if people from high school can't get ahold of me, or I don't care if I miss out on my 20 year reunion because it was organized on Facebook, right. And I think that in the early internet days, Facebook was a great place to find your community. Like I know whenever I say early internet days, maybe even like three years ago in our Facebook groups really exploded. Like I think that it really is good for entrepreneurs to feel less alone. But I think that there are so many better alternatives now that we don't need it as much. But sorry, coming back to people feeling like they should be on Facebook, this is what I really want to talk about today. Because businesses are feeling this. And we've even felt it like everyone's running Facebook ads. Maybe we should try it. And we've tried it.

Emily Thompson 7:52
And how do we feel about it a waste of money, it was a complete and utter waste of money. And one of the things that we found was that the people that we were attracting through Facebook ads were not quality leads at all, like they, they negatively affected our open rates, they just filled us up with numbers without actually adding value to our list of potential customers, which only reiterated what we had anticipated before in that Facebook is not where we're finding our people. I do think that there are some places in some ways that some businesses can effectively use Facebook. And I'm thinking particularly around brick and mortar stores in smaller communities, the kinds of communities that you know, really are on Facebook only as a social media platform. And you know, it's not made up of a population of people who get Instagram and use it or whatever it may be. I do think in those cases, Facebook can be really useful. But it's also not the only tool. I think, very often when it comes to people trying to make decisions about online platforms, whether that's where they put their website or where they're investing their energy in social media, they always default to the one that they hear about, when in reality, there are tons of options out there, if you just do a little bit of research. And quite likely, there's a platform that will better suit your needs that you're not even aware yet you just are defaulting to the one that you've heard about First and most from the people around you. So I think as in all things when it comes to online business, do your research and make good decisions based on what it is that you want to accomplish with the effort that you're putting into it. I think for far too long people have assumed that Facebook is the solution, when really it's just a solution and it's one that's less of a solution now than it probably ever has been in the past.

Kathleen Shannon 9:44
I think that social media is important for business and I think it is going to the place that you enjoy the most whether that be Facebook or Instagram or Snapchat or whatever. But I think that a really great alternative to Facebook and when We are really pushing hard here at being boss is getting off line. So for me, I would at this point, rather spend or invest $5,000 into going to a bomb ass conference and meeting people face to face hanging out with people versus an I say $5,000. That includes me and you Emily going to conference.

Kathleen Shannon 10:26
I know that for me, like in my early days of blogging, the amount of money that I would spend going to alt summit was, it wasn't money that I necessarily had. Right? Whenever I think about what people are investing in branding, or Facebook ads, or all of that stuff, take that money and travel somewhere to connect with other creatives in person offline, you will see the return on your investment every single time. Absolutely. Any final thoughts on the future of social media or Facebook?

Emily Thompson 11:01
Well, I did get told the other day by Caitlin here that we can't delete our Facebook pages like our individual Facebook accounts, because if we do that, we don't have a business Instagram, which stinks. So they're going to hold on to at least one of us a little bit longer. But I I do wholeheartedly think that I'm legit down with Facebook, and I say legit done, I haven't had the Facebook app on my phone in years. I haven't like checked in on my Facebook page for like personal reasons. In years, the only reason I have it is for Facebook ads and business pages. And I'm ready to even sort of relinquish some of the time and energy and effort that I put into those things. Because I don't see Facebook as a reliable and good use of resources for what we're building here at being boss or that I will ever build an almanac.

Caitlin Brehm 12:01
And I just like to add a huge disclaimer that if you are on Facebook, and especially if you're one of the early Facebook group adopters that has a thriving group, and that's kind of like your main draw all the power to you, you might be one of those reasons why people haven't left Facebook because whatever you have out there is so good for them. And that's amazing. And maybe Instagram doesn't work for you. Or maybe Same thing with Twitter, maybe you have a like that's your place when a lot of people are also leaving Twitter right now. So if something is working for you continue doing that. But I think this is just a platform that's difficult to get started on right now. And that's sort of what we're saying.

Kathleen Shannon 12:41
Yeah, and like no pressure to quit, because we want to quit but also no pressure to join because everybody else's I think that's the ultimate message is that you have to do what's right for you. Right now we're feeling funny around Facebook. Oh, this is something I wanted to mention is I've been thinking about even just wiping my Facebook clean, like deleting all of the data off of it. Like off of my personal page. I don't even know if that's even possible at this point. But it is kind of like a Marie Kondo purging kind of situation, where you have these emotional attachments to, I don't know your timeline history of your child being born like it is really hard to let go of some of that stuff. But I'm also at the point where I'd rather make real memories I'd rather print off my photos and have them in a drawer somewhere rather than on Facebook. Amen. Amen. Everyone, do some soul searching around how they feel about Facebook and Instagram. keep us updated. Let us know on our Instagram. How you feel about Facebook.

Kathleen Shannon 13:50
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Emily Thompson 14:04
Did you like this minisode Be sure to check us out on our website at beingboss.club. There you can find more from being boss including our full episodes minisodes and blog posts. And while you're there, be sure to sign up for our mailing list so that you can get access to behind the scenes and exclusive content from Kathleen and myself to help you be more boss in your work and life. Do the work be boss