The Fallacy of Facebook

As everyone knows, I’ve been trying to restart Drink & Draw for the last several months. It’s been pretty much a fruitless effort. I knew starting up over the holidays was probably not the best time, but we decided to run with it anyway.

It’s been hard to find cosplayers that have not been spoiled by the previous Drink & Draw. Mellow Mushroom paid them $75 + full meal/drink comps, which is a bit much, in my opinion. I’ve run into many of the alumni from MM who won’t even talk to me unless I offer them the same deal. Well, guess what? NO. We are starting up, we don’t have that kind of budget. It’s been annoying for me and I would be lying if I didn’t say I have a list of all the cosplayers who’ve refused. I do. And they’ll never hear from me again. I’d also be lying if I said “sorry” for that. I’m not sorry! I don’t have time to deal with people who are not even trying to be supportive.

On the other hand, I’ve found some really awesome cosplayers who are more than happy to pose for a giftcard and tips. I’ve been picking up their tab, which is fine with me. I truly appreciate these fine people who understand what we’re trying to do and are willing to throw in some time for a giftcard. These are the people that I will contact again if The Imperial gig continues or when I open my own place. The lesson in this is BE SUPPORTIVE if you possibly can. It will go further than being all about the benjamins.

So, my original reason for this post is to debunk some Facebook (FB for short) bullshit for you. Especially if you have a business or group on FB and think that it’s helping you.

It is not.

I’ve been running FIVE FB pages for the last few years. Two are restaurants, two are our businesses and one is for the Drink & Draw group. I can tell you with certainty that these pages do absolutely nothing to promote anything. FB will tell you that “Likes” matter and content matters. It does not. People like things all day long without ever coming back to the page. FB will not show anyone your page unless you pay them. It is a fact.

I can also tell you that when you have a group page and then have events, it does not matter how many people say they are attending. Odds are that none of them will actually show up.

It’s the FB effect: like or say YES but then never think about it again.

The Drink & Draw page is the perfect example. I say we’re canceling and get a surge of Likes and people saying they will attend, but when the event happens, it’s the same FOUR people as always. FB is absolutely useless. FB will make you think you’re doing great, but when the rubber hits the road, it’s all as empty as a repost of a kitten video. I cross post to FB from the site(s), but that’s it. I don’t spend time posting to FB and I don’t advise clients to do that, either. It’s a waste of time.

As far as social media goes, Twitter is a far better use of your time. All my clients have twitter feeds (I run FIVE of those, as well!) that are automagically fed from wordpress. I also post things to the feeds periodically. Just crosspost from wordpress to cover your bases. Automation is your friend. :)

Don’t skip having a website! FB is NOT the same thing and it will NOT give you as much exposure as a simple website will. Trust me on this one. If you are a small business, you absolutely need a decent website. Don’t let the fallacy of Facebook fool you into thinking that it will do the job just as well as a real site for the low low cost of FREE. You get what you pay for and FB proves that. Buy your domain and get a site set up. Use wordpress.com – it’s free and it’s easy to use. AND it’s Google friendly. It’s just a cost of doing business to have a site. DO IT.

And a final note: if you are a restaurant or bar, go claim your Yelp profile and any others that are out there: Foursquare, Urban Spoon, etc. By claiming the profile, you take control of what is posted and you can get really solid feedback from customers. It is a tool that is very underutilized by the service industry. USE IT, IT IS FREE!

I could make money consulting with restaurants about this, I’m sure. But instead, I’ve put it here for all to use! I hope this helps out just ONE entrepreneur. That would make me VERY happy. Go forth and CROSS POST! :D