49 Replies

That is very interesting Naomi. I am not on FB but have been meaning to start a page – not so sure now :-/ x

I noticed a drop in reach at least for a few weeks now :-(

My FB cake page has been a low priority for me, for quite some time… due to problems with my feed and being seen. I really only check in when I have something to post.
I have found CD far more rewarding as far as satisfaction goes. I try to visit here everyday, except when I am away travelling. I get to see every post made, by those I choose to follow. Love the search options, too.
Wonderful community atmosphere.
Guess it depends on what is important to you. I personally don’t need 1000’s of non-interactive followers, that never see my posts….

Julez, I agree with you about CD being a great place to interact with cake community but to attract customers, we need FB … Maybe I should start a blog?

I guess that is where I differ, Dina.
I created my fb page to help determine whether it would be viable for me to go into business. I eventually decided against it, due to many factors. Now, I only create for family and a couple of close friends. I do not create for profit and have no need to attract customers.

Facebook certainly DO have us all over a barrel, that’s for sure, and as for your idea of paying a subscription fee, I’m sure if the pricing options were fair a lot of us would be more than willing to pay, but all this ‘boost post’ payment nonsense seems to be a bit of daylight robbery at the moment !! I know of people who HAVE paid to boost, and have seen absolutely NO difference in their reach, so for me, I won’t give in to that kind of marketing. FB IS however, my only shop window – not only is it a worldwide fan page, but it’s also where I gain my local business, and so trying to get what I do out there (other than word of mouth) is increasingly difficult (I’m lucky that I do have a loyal client base, but I can’t expect THEM to keep sharing what I’m up to ). In saying that though, we have had the pleasure of a free ride and a virtual rent-free ‘store’ for the last couple of years, so perhaps it IS time to look for different premises (god knows where :-/ )
Whatever is it FB decide to do to help or penalise pages, it’s all become very disheartening, and I do think they will lose potential business traffic simply because we decide to step away. I can’t count the number of times I’ve sat with head in hands and said ’What’s the point ?!’ and been ready to walk away from everything (ahhhh, just imagine all that wonderful head-space we’d gain back ;) ) BUT, such is the world of Facebook, and I suppose it’s their way or the highway … I’ll toddle along as long as I can, I’ll go ‘visit’ the friends I’ve made, I’ll pass comment, I’ll plant hearts … and time will tell. I’ve given up second-guessing what their grand schemes and masterplans are, so will take what’s available and make sure I have plenty more projects on my to-do lists for whenever my little cake world burns out (anyone fancy learning how to plaster ?? :D ) xx

Hahaha Lou… love that last sentence. I am currently learning how to bog and repair motor vehicle panels on a car restoration project… the skills of masking and covering cakes is transferring to the new project quite nicely.
Am sure plastering will be “a piece of cake” for you! xxx

I agree with Dina on the CD/FB point … Interaction is fab here, but we ARE all cakers so it’s all mutual territory … FB on the other hand is one giant shopping mall and you’re not always going to have the footfall past YOUR ‘shop’ … Blogging however, DOES seem to work when done right, and I do think it takes away some of the sell, sell, sell pressure by allowing us to be more of who we are and can bring people in to more of a ‘chatty’ relaxed environment where we’re free to throw in random thoughts, build up a patchwork of things we see and find … and still throw in a cake or 2 !

Hahaha Julez !! If you’re anything like me you’ll have a list of ‘I want to have a go at that’ challenges as long as your masking tape !!! Sounds like a fab project !!! xx

I agree with you all about CD being a wonderful environment. And I actually find it much easier to gush over my cake crushes and feel supported in my own cake journey.

I disagree with FB being a huge source of customers for most. I find the higher a pages numbers from abroad, the less they are actually reaching their target audience which is their local towns.

I am fully convinced that some participation on google+ with a business page that lists your contact details and a map is going to put you in touch with far more customers.

http://www.google.com.au/business/

What’s the world’s largest search engine? Google right?!

So why wouldn’t you want to be listed on it as a business or a blogger?

Linking your google+ business page to your website or blog to get you found.

Once this is done you can link in with your own local directories for example in Australia we have
http://www.yelp.com.au

I used to spend far too much time on Facebook, then I realised that empty likes mean little and that I would be far better to invest my time on my actual cake decorating journey not fakebook.

(Although I admit this is an emerging process and I still log on to fb daily – but I see that changing once these new fb business changes are put into place)

See, now I haven’t even looked into Google+ … Another thing for my To-Do list ! Thanks Naomi ! x

Lou when you do you can find me here:

Personal Profile (blog author)
https://plus.google.com/u/0/+CairnsCakeLady

Business Page:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/103930997462348482661/+CakeDecorCairns/posts

Naomi I just took a look at your business page it’s awesome…was it complicated to set up? I too find the reach is rediculous on Facebook. A friend of mine also paid to boost a posting and made absolutely no difference! But I must say I do get customers through Facebook.

Thanks Naomi for all the info you provided <3

Not surprised by any of this from FB. My husband said once FB went public, they would be beholden to the share holders….hence….making MONEY!!!! That becomes the top priority….NOT the customer/consumer. This happens almost 100% of the time when a company joins the stock exchange and becomes a public traded company. The original owner…like Mark Zukerman from FB…makes BILLIONS……win-win for him. At first the changes on FB were subtle…but gradually….$$$ for service started to creep in, ie: promoting your cakes. I can see the day where there maybe the possibility that you may have to pay to join FB. Could happen. We all got sucked in…were in trenched in the FB social media….hard to extract ourselves from it…… 💔 💔

I think that it has become a paid ad site and that its trying to phase out the more social individal sharing and become one big add buildboard for all that pay …thats what i see fb doing ….not very cool but i only have 667 likes on my page ….my posts dont reach even 1 % but as long as my customers as happy thats what matters lol xo

YUP, I agree with you June !!

Danijela, I have 12975 likers and I am reaching 1% viewers, sometimes less, whereas I used to reach 10% at least – case in point, you are pbbly not seeing my posts like you used to!!

Yes thats why i miss so much and then i come here and it like omg all the cakes i am missing so i so am glad i can see the work and support and comment and like on things here …such a great cake gathering xo

very sad……hours of advertising down the tubes. I cant afford the advertising and boosting. and most of my business has been developed via facebook. I understand they need to make money but it still sucks that out of all the followers I have only about 150 see my post….if that. I have been missing on facebook the last little while as I have just been grumpy about the fact that all the hours of advertising I have done is worth nothing….ergh….time to evolve and change….dont wanna:( cant afford the boosts

miettes (Dina) same here…I have 24000 likers but you wouldn’t know it…I do see some pages in our cakey circle but not many…I know that activating the notification on the pages can be one of the issues and of course Facebook is doing it’s thing to make things impossible! I do see your page Dina and Danijela’s too….just curious if you’ve ever seen my posts :(

Not many i dont see many of enza

I know this much… as soon as Facebook loses its use for us, there will be someone out there who will think of a new platform for us. I find instagram right now so great. I mean, we are visual artists right? What better idea than just having pictures and pictures of our stuff for people to follow us and see? And there’s always the option to put our webpage in the comments.

I think it’ll be a viable alternative to Facebook. Besides, what’s the saying “all the young people are on instagram all the old people are on Facebook?” Out with the old, in with the new.. just in time for the new year!

Melanie you know I think Instagram certainly fills an artists need to be seen and give us the ego buzz we all crave, but it’s owned by Facebook and there’s limited hyperlinks to redirect traffic to your website / email ordering system. Most people are lazy and will not go to your profile to find your direct link – let alone trying to cut and paste from Instagram comments. I think it’s still an add on to more customer oriented platform’s like websites / blogs directly linked to a google+ business page.

If it’s customer’s you want – they need to be able to search you in google to be able to find you to order. The best way to be found on google is the local business pages and connecting with many different types of people on g+ that live in your service area.

Why is that important? Well say if you follow a local non related business e.g Joes Swimming pools and they follow you back. When Joe decides to google a cake maker in his area guess who shows up on the first page? Yep you do because you are connected on g+ (you don’t even have to have great SEO for this to happen)

I personally think webpages/blogs and a Google plus Business page should be your core focus. Then all the other platforms are to be used to supplement directing traffic to your webpage.

The highest traffic I have to my blog is in order from G+, Google search, Pinterest and then the others in much smaller numbers.

Opening a Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest etc business profile (again directly linked to your domain name) improves your webpage/blogs ranking – again pushing your chances up to be found on Google search.

(Melanie you know personally how much my webpage rankings have improved since I changed my thinking)

I guess the long story short is I am personally going to redirect all the wasted energy I have previously invested in Facebook to focus on writing a better blog, and improving my circles and communities on g+

I don’t know where it will leave a little page like mine. I create cakes for fun, but I share the cakes of many, many other cake decorators. With my reach at almost nothing ….. my fun little sharing page is almost invisible. Twelve months of hard work down the drain :(

Andy you would be great on g+ and Pinterest they love food porn on there! And instagram like Melanie (One Tier) said. And here on CD there’s a lovely community feel also. Link it up to a free blog all about cakers you love x

I have a Pinterst page and post many many cakes from CD. & FB …much broader audience…AND it brings them back to the site so they can look at the decorators other creations.

thanks for the posting…. yes, I am also so aware of these changes…the reaches have significantly changed but we are all out there helping each other as best we can… I have seen a few pages that now have purchased their likes as it reflects in their stats that are visible to the public.
Im not ready to take that route, doubt I ever will, but looking into other option and find this feed highly interesting…
thanks so much all xx

I agree with Julez CD is more reaching that facebook..and with June…<3 <3

I guess we are all having the same problems and always nice to know we have our CD family here to come and discuss it with instead of all the nastiness that seems to follow FB anyways. I am just a small fry on FB and quite honestly I really like it that way. Like many of you I do not need to have hundreds of thousands of followers, they are not your customers anyways. I also rely on FB to some degree as a store front and do get business from it, but I still think most of that is by my customers telling others that I am on FB. Like most I will not be paying for a FB account anytime soon, but I do love going there and catching up on things my friends are caking or problems they are having that maybe we can help them out with. It is still the best place to go and have a chat with someone across the other side of the world in real time. To be able to send them a pic of your cake that is failing and not knowing why and get their opinions immediately. That is what I use FB for. It is my little hub of cakey friends. Yes it sometimes gets cruel and nasty but we all have the option to click on something else just like you can change the channel on the TV. I am still a FB fan but also know it will not be what makes or breaks my business. Big hugs my lovelies!

I started my business about 18 months ago and my only way of reaching customers has been through facebook. Thanks to facebook i regularly get cake orders. I do marvel at the fact that my business has taken off thanks to this free facility. I do sometimes boost my posts for the minimum daily charge and i defiantly do reach more local people that way. I feel very blessed that my business has taken off as it has and had facebook not existed i wouldn’t be where i am now. It is sad that things are changing but they always do, hopefully there will be something else around the corner, i will defiantly look into google+. X

Good morning everyone I love reading all your different ideas. June has hit the nail on the head about Pinterest it’s a great referral platform.

As for free shopfronts blogs are free too. Google owned blogger.com is free and you can set up some paid adds on your blog… what? Get paid to have a free blog? Yes that’s right.

G+ has Hangouts which is a much more interactive inbox – video calls, live interactive chats. I actually met some of my closest cake friends on g+ not facebook – so again I think it’s just how you use it.

I can’t keep repeating myself about having a google business page – being searchable on google and a map with your contact details up the top – in my books that’s a true shop front and still FREE.

I think Facebook will still have a place – more to keep your personal connections up but for cake paging I am definitely going to be spending more time here and on g+. Fb is just going to take a lower seat like Twitter currently does for me. My top platforms in my goal are 1) blog 2) google+ 3) CD 4) Pinterest 5) everything else – which I will probably do the Instagram to fb page share so I won’t actually have to log on to my page as frequently as I am ridiculously doing at the moment.

If Facebook are going to hide me even more come January why would I continue tryingto flog a dead horse (reach) when I have so many other platforms to use.

Does anyone remember Myspace or Bebo? People thought they couldn’t live without them once also.

I still find fb excellent for a personal page. I have a sister living on the other side of the world… I don’t have to worry about time differences, cost etc to be still in touch with her life.

Exactly Julez Facebook will continueto be a personal platform until people eventually move on to other things.

Just thought I would pop in and mention that I have cut back on Facebook a lot this week and spent a little more time on other networks and guess what? I have seen an increase in traffic to my website! ;)

Yay awesome news xo

Just want to say thank you to all the advice being posted here. I was completely put off by the whole fb thing and basically ignored my computer for a while now but I guess it is just time to evolve and work on other areas. Nice to be back and see everyone’s work….now if I can just figure out hash tags… I am so techno challenged, it took ages to get used to facebook….now I am trying to learn instagram, google plus,pinterest….and oh flip….twitter makes me feel like a twit coz its just all Greek to me …..but it is nice to see others in the same boat and be able to hear the advice from all of you. It is much appreciated!! xxx

Jennifer I feel the same about twitter – I use it to “tweet” but admittedly I don’t actually go on there to read other’s tweets. I haven’t figured out how to make it work. Xoxo

thank you:) nice to know Im not alone. xxx

Definitely not alone haha! I am still working my way through the wide world of social networking. :) And I don’t claim to be an expert, I just speak from what my website stats are telling me xoxo

We recently looked further into our reach history and was shocked by the results. We knew as anyone would Facebook has limited business page owners reach continuously over the past few months but never expected the result to be quite as severe.
Just 12 month ago we had a typical reach of over 20,000 people. I would love to say not much has changed but now we if we are seen by over 1000 people we would consider the post to have done well.
Google+ is the way to go….although slightly confusing once you start gaining followers it helps your websites google ranking too and more importantly for now your posts are shown to each and every follower.

Yep that’s exactly what I am thinking xoxo

I have noticed that the reach on fb “shares” has dropped significantly. There seems to be an increase in pages downloading pics, then uploading to their own page and tagging, as a way around it.
I was excited a few days ago when I had a major site (100k+) “liked” my “Australian summer” pic and told me they were “sharing”… only to find they downloaded and uploaded it instead. It resulted in what appeared to be zero benefit to my page. Excitement turned into disappointment. I had previously purchased supplies at their Belmont store…but in future will support other businesses.

Ahhh yes they do this for their own self promotion!!

I do things like that with mutally agreed friends and weblinks when there’s no fb page to share.

But this style of repeatedly only uploading others work…. not on.

Oh how rude i have shared on my profile your page but i did share you page not a photo and if i did share the photo it would be from you page …ppl are so so greedy and i have also heard of instagram ppl taking pic and doing self promo even after numerous of msg to the page they did not take them down so thank you CAKES DECOR xoxoxox

Facebook has long been only beneficial to those who can pay for ads – if you can’t pay for ads then don’t rely on FB for getting your business out there.
Here’s an interesting read from November last year: http://www.fastcompany.com/3038801/brands-are-wasting-time-and-money-on-facebook-and-twitter-report-says

Very interesting read Angel. Well written, and so true.

So true Angel. Good read, many thanks

Sums it up nicely :) and strengthens what I mean. Thanks Angel.