Facebook bad for small businesses?

[ChristopherCoy]

...or so says Sarah Petty.

Small Business Marketing Ideas

[rab3rd]

She isnt saying facebook is bad, she is saying that mass private messaging via facebook is bad, and I agree with her. If I start getting an inbox full of crap from a business, I unsubscribe or unlike toot sweet...

[tukaniray]

She is mainly talking about PM like Rob stated.

Now saying that creating you ad is a bad thing just sending PMs like crazy. She makes a good point that when you receive email that is a generic email it just looks like straight SPAM and gets deleted by a majority of people.

So that route isn't a good route in her eyes. And I agree with her.

-Ray-

[kayumangi]

Well technically she is really saying Facebook IS bad because when you send out an update from your business page you're sending private messages to your fans =)

[LanceHaynie]

I both agree and disagree with the article. I do agree that sending SPAM is a very bad thing. However, it look's like those may be "updates" in Facebook. When you send update's Facebook is supposed to separate them from your inbox. It can be confusing though to most people. They tend to look like messages in your inbox. I remember getting them all the time during the election season.

I personally think that wall posts are the best way to go with these types of updates few and far between. If you want to send lot's of messages, create an email campaign so they can opt in/out.

As for the teaching your clients to look for a sale, society at large has already created that beast. I am not in the professional photography business myself, I sell television advertising. What we do is create "packages" with a few bonuses to make it seem like a deal vs the A la Carte pricing. Are they getting some great deal? Nope. Do they feel like they are getting a great deal? You bet!

If you are not selling packages or giving discounts (real or not) and you are doing well, share your secret.

[hue-e]

I think there's an acceptable level of posting you can do before it annoys people. I never spam peoples inboxes. I hate it personally and would imagine anyone else would hate it too. As far as fans for your page, I just wouldn't send out more than 1 or 2 updates a week. And when I do, it's not just "hey, buy this stuff..." it usually has some useful info included that ultimately leads you to what I want you to look at in the first place.

[rab3rd]

I agree with Patrick, if I am a fan of a page and they post to their wall three times a day, I will hide them so I dont have to see all the posts. 2 or 3 updates a week is about prefect I think. If you need to communicate that often, setup a blog or a tweet.