Facebook and I are not Friends.....

I'm going to rant a little - here's your warning.....

Facebook is awesome in some ways. You can "cyber stalk" that old high school secret crush. You can share family news with other family thousands of miles (even oceans) away. You can plan and send invitations to your next big shin-dig. And it used to be my MOST. VALUABLE. TOOL.

Then it changed last November'ish. They changed their algorithms; now only 3% (IF you're lucky) of your Facebook Fans will see your newest, latest and greatest posts, unless you paid. Fine, I get it - I REALLY do. I'm a small business, so small, I'm a one person business (unless my husband is second shooting a wedding with me). I know just how very much every penny counts. I get how important it is to make some cash, even if it's only $5. They needed to make some cash. There's some serious investors now and they buy stock and they want returns on their investments and I totally get it! I have no problem dropping $5-10 to pay to have my latest sale seen by all my fans. Someday's I'll even pay the money to show off a cute shot of one of my dogs. Marketing expenses are in my business plan. I am a completely and totally legit business. I really don't mind paying.

BUT when I agree to pay the fee and Facebooks denies the request and my posts are seen by a whopping 23 people out 1,333, Facebook - I have issues with you. I have spent 5 years building my business and 4 of those have been accumulating my Facebook likers. I drive otherwise Non-Facebookers (yes they exist) to your site to see their sneak peeks. They stay because I've told them, "That's where I post any sales or specials I may run throughout the year." And my people watch for them.

Changing the algorithm caused many people to be upset they missed my awesome "Black Friday" and "Cyber Monday" sales and being the person I am, I honored those prices WEEKS after the expiration date, because I knew Facebook changed things around. As a business I adjusted. I did away with the fancy website and went back to a basic blog because links were going to be shown over posts or photos. I re-budgeted and raised my marketing budget for 2014 by 350% and I pay to have my posts shown, but then they aren't. They are denied.

I have no idea why and it's impossible to speak to, chat or email anyone at Facebook to find out what new rule I violated, all of the sudden....again. So dear Facebook, we are not friends. I will continue to post and cross my fingers, someone, anyone (preferably the ones who liked my page to begin with) will have the opportunity to SEE my post but in the mean time, I'm moving on.

I avoided Facebook when it first became "the place" to create an online presence and to find new clients and I resisted. I gained 250 clients on my own with a lot of elbow grease and I'll continue on without relying on it.

Clients and future clients,
From this point forward, sales, specials and all kinds of other awesomeness will be on here, my website. If you'd like to make sure you don't miss any of it, register to receive all of my posts to be delivered to your email address by clicking here and I'll see you soon! 
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Sands of Time Photos. All rights reserved. © Maira Gall.