Bit of a different post from me today. After giving it a fair bit of thought over recent months, I have decided to stop 'actively' using my Facebook business page.

"WHY ON EARTH WOULD YOU DO THAT?" I hear you cry....!!

Well.....

Those that know me well will be aware that I am no fan of Facebook in general. I simply don't get along with it on either a personal and professional basis. I know that I bore people regarding this subject on a semi regular basis... for which I am very sorry but it doesn't make it any less true for me.

I'm very much an introvert at heart... I truly can't stand talking about myself. Writing blog posts, sharing images and any other form of self promotion makes me very uncomfortable indeed. Facebook is the perfect tool for self promotion, but for those of us that shy away from it, it is not a great place to be. I can't tell you the last time I looked at my Facebook 'timeline'.... I really don't want to see a perfectly curated version or minute by minute record of a persons life. I find small talk very difficult... I much prefer a deep conversation about meaningful things to chatting about what I had for dinner. Facebook does me no good whatsoever.

From a business perspective, the lack of reach that Small Business pages get now (due to algorithm changes) and the subsequent costs associated with running ads to actually reach people (a necessity now if you want to actually market to people on Facebook) mean it is just not suited to me professionally either.

However, having said this the most important reason for taking this decision is to give greater consideration to the privacy of my clients. Over the last couple of years I have worked for many wonderful people…. many of whom have been reticent to have their images shared online, and I totally get it. If I share images on FB I lose all control over them… they can be shared, people can be tagged etc. and after a while any attempt at keeping images private / within a specific group is lost. To many of my clients, their privacy is really important, and Facebook is anything but private!

Will this have an impact on my business?

Possibly.

I do know that many people immediately look to Facebook to get a little more information on a business that they may be interested in and I will just have to take that loss on the chin. However, I have never actually booked a wedding via Facebook so in that sense it might not make a difference. It will result in my work being less visible and I won't be able to chat with those lovely folks that have taken the time to interact with me there… something that will be missed. However, I consider the privacy of my clients (not to mention my own sanity) to be of the utmost importance and I envisage that this will only become more of an issue as my business moves in the direction I hope to take it.

I am not intending to disappear from Social Media completely. I am very active on Twitter (mostly ranting about the state of the world / my football team) and intend to make more use of Instagram this year as well (I am @johncolsonphoto on both if you are interested... links are all over this website). Both platforms seem to be a little less invasive than Facebook and I do get a lot more 'engagement' on both as well (which helps) so I will stick with them unless anything changes. Sadly, in order to have an Instagram Business Profile I need a Facebook page as well… hence why I am not deleting my page completely. I will post things to my FB page but the posts will come from other sources, such as this blog etc.

So, thank you so much to everyone that has 'liked', commented or simply followed me via Facebook. It has been very much appreciated. I am not going anywhere… I have lots of wonderful weddings to look forward to this year and beyond… I just won't be there much from now on.
Please do join me over on instagram if you can though….

https://www.instagram.com/johncolsonphoto

"John Colson is a Wedding Photographer based in Worcestershire, UK. I endeavour to provide simple, real and elegant wedding photography for clients throughout the UK and Europe. My work has been seen on numerous Wedding Blogs as well as in print (Brides Magazine, Your West Midlands Wedding etc.). I have also been named one of the the Top Ten Wedding Photographers in the UK by Your Perfect Wedding Photographer."

Why I am no longer (ACTIVELY) using Facebook....