Saturday, March 22, 2014

Networking Saturday; Link Your Shop or Blog 5

Facebook is making changes again in how we utilize it as a tool for branding and promotion.  How does this affect us as a small business?  And personally, How does this affect my poor little shops?

Well of course time will only tell but the big concern right now is the the changes in the algorithm it uses to direct feeds will minimize the organic reach of a page.  There has been some talk about how this change in algorithm will drastically limit the percentage of users that receive your posts within their feeds even if they have turned on notifications from your page, unless of course you pay.

This is true but with further investigation the actual change is a little more complex than simply looking at unpaid vs. paid.  My hope is that those of us who step up our content and provide quality information will still have a fighting chance at being seen.  The algorithm puts a higher emphasis on content and viewer interaction or "talk" about the page.  I, being the layperson I am, will not be able to go into as much detail as I would like because while I somewhat understand this new system, it's not enough for me to be able to explain it well.  So here are a couple of great resources for you to read more details Facebook News Feed Algorithm Change Reduces Visibility of Page UpdatesQuestions to Ask Your Social Media Manager About Facebook’s Newsfeed Changes and Facebook News Feed Update Gives Brands More Reach

Like many online entrepreneurs, I have dreamed of a Facebook page being the magic to increasing my sales but realistically it has never impacted my traffic as much as other promotional techniques.  So with that being said I prefer to look at the glass half full and say that for most of us this change will not hurt our businesses at all.  It may impact those that have built a business of selling Facebook "likes" since you can have as many followers there are available but if your content is no good you will be virtually invisible.  It also means that networking is going to be that much more important in the very near future.

If we focus our resources in "talking" about each other it is going to have much more weight than simply promoting ourselves.  Next week I am looking into a little more information about Google's new Hummingbird Algorithm and how networking is also going to give us great edge for our overall internet visibility.
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If you have any great networking opportunities you would like me to feature please contact me directly at ButterflyInTheAttic at yahoo dot com or post the information in the comments section.  I will add it to next week's post. 

So now a little homework; think about how the changes in the Facebook Algorithms are going to affect you. Are you concerned? Me? right now I am not concerned at all.  I think that while it isn't good that I have done such a poor job of driving traffic to my sights from Facebook, it will save me from seeing a dramatic plunge. 
My homework showed me that I am going to need to work on quality posts for my Facebook in order to increase my traffic rather than relying on gathering as many bodies to my page as I can. 

So without further introduction here is our great opportunity to network with each other now. Please Join me :)
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Post any of your family friendly sites (blogs, shops, FB, etc.)  What ever sites you would like to share. 

Please help promote this post using your social networks.  Here is an easy one:

10 comments:

The Gossamer Tearoom said...

Hi Colleen!
I hope you are having a good weekend! Thank you again for hosting this fun way to network and get some exposure for our shops and social media sites!

I don't have Facebook myself (have a hard enough time juggling what I have on my plate!), but this information regarding these changes should be of great interest to those who do use Facebook to promote their online businesses.

Wishing you a great and successful weekend,

Betty

ShadowDogDesigns said...

Thank you, Colleen. Sorry the description of my first link is so long. I shortened the description but inlinkz added the whole thing. That happened Friday, too, and I don't see a way to delete the link the way you used to be to. Sorry!

Am so frustrated at how few people actually see my posts on my business FB page. I used to get 100's (sometimes 1000+) for a post. Now I feel lucky to get maybe 50. Have thought about deleting it but still get a sale or two from it so will plug on . . . Thank you for the info. And also THANK YOU for a place to share links (however long they turn out to be!).

Happy rest of the weekend to you.

Peace and joy . . . Catherine

Butterfly In The Attic said...

Do you use Hashtags? I have found a huge difference in my views if I use Hashtags.

I totally understand what you mean about frustration. I am really struggling right now to meet my obligations because my sales are so low and I promote more than others. But I think I did better when I ran more group promotions so I have to start looking at different ways we can collaborate.

Have a blessed day
Colleen

Anna Garner said...

Colleen,
I am happy I checked in to Facebook today and found your generous offer. I have no luck at all with FB and find myself reluctant to even post things there, but decided i would try it today.

My biz page is a haunted house these days.

Thank you very much for setting up this method of networking. I use inLinkz on some of my blogs, too. I really like this method of sharing our various web presences.
Anna

Butterfly In The Attic said...

Glad you stopped in Anna. I know what you mean "Ghost Town" I am not sure what is going on (I can only speculate) but I just can't seem to get my sales up. Oops there goes a tumble weed LOL

Blessings
Colleen

Anonymous said...

Hi Colleen,

Thank You for creating a networking post and helping me promote my studio and blog. Unfortunately, the picture for the blog didn't post properly. So I tried to go back to history to change it but it added a second link to my blog and I can't delete the first blot link (#31). Sorry about.

Butterfly In The Attic said...

I deleted it
I have it set so that everyone should be able to delete there own but for some reason it isn't allowing people to.

Thanks for joining in the networking fun!

I visited everyone's sites and if I wasn't following already I am now :)

Have a very blessed day
Colleen

Butterfly In The Attic said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Thanks so much for setting this up. I'll post now and then have to run out, but will be back tomorrow and Sunday to promote everyone.

Have a great weekend!
Donna

Unknown said...

My computer is acting up so I will get in as many as I can before it shuts itself down again and will try again in the morning. ARG!!