A few months ago, I spoke with a friend who was fed up with Facebook. She spent way too much time on it, wasn’t quite sure how to bring her business into it, was tired of the constant “noise” in her newsfeed, and decided it was time to say goodbye. So with well over 500 friends in her list, she clicked the button and shut down her Facebook account.

A few weeks ago, I noticed she’s back on. With a few weeks away, she began wondering what everyone was doing, and started reading more information on building a business using Facebook Pages. So she headed back online and opened up her account. Now she’s at 200 friends, and is looking closely for guidance on how to use Facebook the right way this time.

She’s not alone. In fact I see people all the time that have a “Facebook breakdown” and make a quick decision to call it quits.

Would you do the same with your website?

Of course not. That’s your business.

Yet shutting down your Facebook account if you run a small business is pretty much doing just that.

Yes, Facebook is free. Yes, it has its own purposes. But it’s a tool you can use to attract and gain new clientele. If something like that has purpose, the last thing you should do is shut it down. Instead, take some time away  no one will realize you’re gone – and restrategize. Discover the true reason you want to use it, and start in again. You won’t have to rebuild your profiles and pages, add friends and followers, and you’ll have a much easier time of moving forward.

Facebook is the Social Reach of the World

Facebook has only been around a few years. The world survived before Facebook, and I’m pretty sure it would survive if Facebook suddenly went away. Yet Facebook has become the window of opportunity to learn all about your friends and family. If your niece posts new pictures of her baby, where else are you going to see them? If your son shares his college experiences, don’t you want to know what he’s doing? (Okay, maybe not) And what about the bookclub, yoga class and travel meetings? How will you ever know what’s going on without Facebook? Because people are on it all the time, it’s a great place to meet new people, network with new people, and find new clients. If you are in business, can you really ignore one of the most active places on Earth? [Read more…]