Why I Deleted my Business Facebook Page and Never Looked back

Recently a friend posted on social media she had been inspired by being more frugal and cleaning out the clutter in her home. She sited several means of this inspiration, but mentioned The Minimalist podcast as having an impact on her decision.

In the past seven or eight months this idea of living minimally has slowly been simmering on the back burner of my brain. I really liked the idea of owning less. It meant less clutter in the house, less toys for the kids, less stuff to pick up and keep track of. Having moved this fall we were able to purge a lot of things that had been sitting in the closet for years, just waiting for the right opportunity to be used, which of course never came.

It was almost therapeutic to remove items we no longer need or use.

As we have slowly been getting settled into the new house, the idea is still sitting with me; to have less.

Enter my friend and her suggestion for the podcast.

I have been running at the gym again, and instead of listening to music, I started listening to this podcast and it has me thinking. One of the very first episodes discusses technology and how it can take over our lives if we let it; and oh how easy that is!

As I was running on the treadmill, this idea popped into my head and I thought it over. I consulted some fellow photographers on social media and asked if I was crazy for thinking this way. The response I got was ranged from “do what works for your business” to “I could never do that!” to “I get all my clients through Facebook!”

In looking at the numbers, I cannot think of one client who booked me solely through Facebook. My preferred means of clients contacting me is through my website. I have people message me on Facebook regularly inquiring about sessions, but not a one has ended up booking me via Facebook.

Roughly 90% of my clients find me through Google and the rest are repeat clients or word-of-mouth.

Yes, I get that Facebook is another form of putting my work out there and its free, which is hard to find these days.

Yet there’s just something about Facebook that just doesn’t do it for me. It doesn’t feel professional and it doesn’t really align with the custom luxury brand I’m trying so hard to create for my clients.

So, I sat down and outlined the reasons why I could justify deleting my business Facebook page.

• I have never booked a single client through Facebook alone
• It doesn’t give the custom and luxurious feel that I am working on for my brand
• It’s another form of social media to try and keep up with
• It actually pulls people away from my website, where I want them to go
• I don’t want to rely on Facebook for my business
• I get more feedback, comments, and likes when I post photography related topics on my personal page
• I hate trying to figure out algorithms and keeping up with changing policies on Facebook
• It takes time I would rather devote to other parts of my business
• I feel guilty for not using the resource to a better degree
• Honestly, I am kind of over it

So. I did it.

I deleted my Facebook business page.

Against the advice of my peers.

Against everything that says not to.

Time will tell if it will help or hurt my business.

But you know what? I’m not looking back.