Social Media Revolution… does it need some Evolution?
One of my clients – and one who is my best social media success story – recently had their Facebook fanpage disappear.
No warnings, no explanation – just gone. It was a fanpage we have been working on for a few months and one that had more than 500 fans and a lot of good interaction with the fans.
I sent off an email to several areas of facebook, but will not be holding my breath for a quick response. I did get the automatic emails stating they have received my request and that ‘we may contact you for more details’
Honestly, I expect nothing less from support of a ‘free’ platform that has millions of users. Users of any of these types of applications are at the mercy of the limited resources available to support them.
This loss of a fanpage is one more scenario that makes me think the unthinkable for many people. Is it time for some of these applications to evolve and move to the next level? A level that requires users to pay (Yes, I said pay) for a service in order to receive more reliable support and service. A service you can count on, especially when using it for business.
“You get what you pay for”, my Mom always said. A statement that certainly rings true when you are dealing with millions of people using a free platform.
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I’m not sure paying is the answer. It just goes to show that each social media “thing” that we do is only 1 piece in the whole marketing plan. I remember reading once that a business had their number in the yellow pages. One year the yellow pages forgot to include their listing and the business folded. You can’t put all your eggs in one basket. Even if one place gets you the most business you’ve got to have other avenues to reach your market.
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Hello,
My fanpage (http://www.facebook.com/lachaineguitare) recently disappeared last sunday. Gone! With the more than 500 people on it…
Were you able to get the fanpage from your customer back?
Did you get any answers from Facebook?
I kind of agree with what you say on the paying schema, that might me the solution. But even if they are doing it for free, that does not allow them to “kill” a fanpage just like that. What a poor respect for the customer!!? I already did two Facebook Ads compaigm on this fanpage, and now it is gone. This is bad business management.
Thanks in advance for your help.
PIerre.
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Pierre,
We have only ever received a generic “We have received your email and will contact you if needed” type of response.
It is very frustrating especially when business spend time and money to create a fanpage and then have fans using it. I also heard from someone today who was running facebook ad campaigns and overnight the page was gone – it returned after a day – but still the level of customer service is very low.
Let’s hope we both find our fanpages!
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Kathy,
My fanpage magically reappeared this morning. No idea if the various post and message I sent here and there had some effect.
So it was gone from the web (but still available through the iPhone app) for 2 full days.
This way of doing business is really strange.
Pierre.
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As an update I wish I were as lucky! We are still missing our fanpage… sigh
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I am cutlenrry challenged because of social media efforts before my time. An ex-staff member made some mistakes in how he set up all of our social media presence, then let them go stale after putting in minimal effort. There isn’t too much damage on Twitter, as we don’t have many followers. But the situation is different on Facebook, where people are very active.In a sense I am starting from scratch. But it’s not really that simple. I have to overcome the impression that while that person is savvy about social media in a personal way, our organization is not. So my audience continues to interact with him on a personal level, but pays little heed to official updates from us. We are a non-profit organization, with little money to throw at this. OK. We have none. I’m not even being paid. But we know this is an important opportunity for us. So at the same time that I’m preparing to use social media to support the launch of my own website, I’m performing CPR on another.In a word: Help!
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Kathy Colaiacovo Reply:
February 6th, 2012 at 5:14 pm
Jose, You can turn it around by making sure what you post is of use to the audience and not all about your company – that is generally the biggest turn off with facebook page content. Try to get the audience talking back to your business… let them know of the change and continue to put out content that interests them – is of relevance to your industry and then ask them for opinions, responses etc. It will take time, but it can be done. Good Luck
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