Why Facebook Pages Should Be Deleted

Photo by Sarah Altamimi.

Corissa St. Laurent works for an email marketing company and has her own Facebook page to promote training events and ask her fans what they think about the evolution of social media.

Christine Green offers web designing services to small business owners. She is self-employed and uses Facebook to share industry articles.

Julia Campbell talks about the importance of social media marketing for nonprofits on her Facebook page.

EJ Smooth plays saxophone and his Facebook page promotes his gigs.

The list goes on and on. I have many friends who are sole proprietors, entrepreneurs, authors, musicians, and other personal brands who are creating and promoting Facebook pages. I can relate. I’ve been in their shoes. I’ve also created Facebook pages for my blog and self-employment.

No more.

Tamar Weinberg encourages individuals who are not large companies to install the Subscribe button and ask their otherwise fans to subscribe to their profiles instead. Citing her 9,500+ subscribers, Tamar elaborates:

Hey Facebook friends, instead of creating fan pages for yourself and inviting your friends to Like you, just turn on subscriptions. If you were wondering where my fan page went, they’re now my subscribers. It would be prudent to do the same, especially as maintaining two presences of your own is likely to be a pain.

Within a day after reading her argument and participating in the ensuing Facebook comments — and subsequent tweeting with Geoff Livingston, Phil Gerbyshak, and Tamar — I deleted my business page but not before suggesting then-fans subscribe to me instead. (My city councilor page remains as public officials should be the only individuals with pages, really.)

How it works is anyone who subscribes to me will read whatever content I share with the public. Keeping in mind how I use friend lists, if I don’t want my subscribers to read certain content such as photos of my nephew then I restrict that Facebook audience to family and explicit friend lists.

This chart indicates why Facebook users choose to like a page. Please keep in mind why someone clicks the Like button on your page. Loyalty is hardly why. The Chief Marketing Officer Council opines:

Although consumers respond favorably about their likelihood to purchase from a brand they follow on Facebook, that’s not overly evident from their Facebook timelines. Marketers should keep in mind that for consumers, Facebook remains primarily a place to interact with peers and share experiences. Although many consumers have opened up to brands that are present on Facebook, brand marketers should not expect they’ve earned consumer loyalty simply because a consumer has clicked the “like” button.

I understand the desire for individuals with books or gigs or events or other materials to promote to have Facebook pages for people to like, comment, and share; but that liking, commenting, and sharing can equally occur on the profile.

By allowing your fans to subscribe to you, you’re increasing your Facebook productivity by allowing yourself to write updates to friends and subscribers in one place. Use friend lists, too, and you’ll never experience a problem with who sees what when.

Visit my profile now and click the Subscribe button.

Any questions?

Please continue reading Why Facebook Pages Should Be Deleted and leave a comment if inspired.

When he's not blogging, Ari helps brands improve their digital media marketing. Got a question? Need help? Contact Ari today!