It feels like ages since I’ve been on any form of social media and I think it’s time I explained myself…I’ve just been too busy! So it’s time for a catch up.
My Etsy shop has been keeping me busy lately, so busy in fact that updating all my social channels has become less of a priority. Added to that, it’s been great to see my folksy.com shop has gotten busier and I’ve sent out some lovely orders to customers from there too. I’ve also had my hands full in my other role of leader of GlasgowEtsy, more of that later!
But there’s also another reason why I haven’t been active on Facebook. I’m sure you’ve seen other small business posts telling you the same story; it’s just become so so difficult to be seen over there. When I first launched maramjewellery, Facebook was so good – my posts were being seen by all my page likers, people were interacting and supporting me, but over time, facebook have changed how they do business, and they’ve realised that they can make a lot of money out of businesses like mine by making us pay to be seen. So although I have just short of 1000 page likers- people who have ticked a box to say ‘Yeah! I like this, show me more!’, my posts are being shared with less than 2% of them. Unless I pay, which I have tried, only to find that my ‘reach’ (who is seeing my page) drops off a cliff straight after, creating a circle of pay/drop of a cliff/pay/drop some more and so on. Which is frustrating. Especially so when I’ve made something lovely and I want to share it, then no one comments or likes because they haven’t seen it. Instead of feeling enthused and excited, I’m left feeling despondent, and as a maker who puts their heart and soul into their work, that’s difficult. So I’ve ditched the negativity and the number watching and concentrated my efforts recently into new work which I’m going to be showing off in the coming weeks. Just in time for Christmas-exciting! And like a true circle, it’s also made me realise that I miss the good parts of Facebook, the joy when someone contacts me after seeing my work there, and all the lovely interactions I have with the people who DO see my work. So I’ll be back there soon and hope that you’ll click a like or leave a comment as each time you interact with my page, my little world on facebook get bigger, and bigger*.
Oh, and I’m also on Instagram too, which I love! But again, they’ve recently changed their posts from chronological to your interests. It’s not as difficult to be found as on Facebook but time will tell !
*Current Facebook algorithms mean that each time you get interaction (ie: a like or comment), it shares your post with more people, so each time you like or comment on something you love, you are helping that post become visible…and we small business pages will LOVE you forever for that!