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Ken Smith 07-06-2014 08:53 PM

Facebook?
 
Hi guys, I was just wondering if you read or belong to either of my pages on Facebook, Ken Smith (my first on FB, personal page) or Ken Smith Basses (the actual official one) ?

With activity being less now on Forums and Emails alike, I am wondering if FB is the new Web Forum. many expect me to show pictures that are already on the website and to do business as I have in the past thru Email. I often invite them to email me and look at the website to continue business and stress this point but they keep coming and coming.

What do you guys think?

todd richmond 07-24-2014 07:02 PM

Just did a "like" and send a friend request.

fwiw, all of the venues kind of serve different purposes and hit different demographics. They can be pretty big time sinks as well so there is a cost/benefit ****ysis that needs to be done.

Forums like this depend on a critical mass of users. Below some magic number of active users/posts, they become more of an archive than an active community. There is value there, but probably not as a primary means of communicating with prospective/current customers.

FB is pretty ubiquitous (for businesses), and tends to be fairly vibrant and active as long as the company is regularly posting. One challenge is that it tends to be less controllable than a forum. As a business you want everyone to see, but then conversations are wide open as well. To me it isn't ideal for technical detail or nurturing close relationships, but great for keeping people informed.

Traditional web sites still are a destination for most people, in part because the business can control the user experience. With Facebook, you get a Facebook experience with your content within that framework. Difficult to have a list of products, support materials, etc. Easier to do that within a web context.

Twitter and Instagram are different beasts and unless you really want to be in the "constant publishing" biz, aren't great bang for the buck. They have a significant cult of personality factor, and it is hard to get traction beyond your core audience.

So as a veteran of over 20 years of "social media" (chat and newsgroups back in the dark ages), I find that small companies need to have a presence in web and Facebook. Beyond that running your own forum can have benefit but hard to build/keep a critical mass as the value is in the information. Since you post a lot that helps since most are here to get info from you, but typical forums spread that expertise out.

The other factor is the troll/annoyance thing. Easy to get sucked into nonsense in any social media setting, and it can be a liability to a brand. The digital world can be a pita...

Ken Smith 07-24-2014 11:13 PM

wow..
 
Great Post Todd. I agree with all you said and learned a few things as well as confirmed some other as well.

I have dine the 'other' bass forum and a couple of small ones as well. It is hard to control the mud slinging over there on TB because it comes from all ages and people that never met me but has to make a comment to feel important. Those people for the most part will never be in my shoes or shoes like mine so as the saying goes, take it from where it comes.

On this forum, I can do quite a bit but the audience is limited. On FB, I can make Ad-like announcements all day long. On the KSB page, it takes a few hours to a day or two for all those paying attention to see it. After that, it gets stale. on the KS page, it is more comment/like oriented but I am limited to a 5k audience. The KSB page gets about 1-3k of looks worth of people o n the counter there of who saw what out of close to 10k worth of likes so far.

I get messages and PMs all day and night 24/7, 365 and I just tell them to email or call depending and give them the 'contact' info from the KSB 'site.

All this internetting cuts into my work time but I feel it's worth it to be connected to people. Much better than magazine ads that cost 1000s with no idea who sees what if or when. The 'Net is instant communication and here to stay.


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