November 14, 2018 I was personally 'done' with Facebook. Within a week I erased eight years of joys and sorrows, including all the photos of my digitally socially visible life. All 'highs', because you don't share lows. Now, I've always been squeamish about public photos of our son (a big high in the last 10 years), but I came across a lot of sentimental junk that really just belongs in a family photo book.
Why this clean-up? I don't know exactly, but I think I need more real contact and less noise. I therefore disconnected everything I followed on Facebook in November and then closed my personal account as privately as possible. My bare feed was the only message: “ To everyone who gets to read this from Facebook 😉 I'm going to rake my social media in the coming time (personally, business is a different story). I've been deleting and unfollowing a lot over the past few months. So don't take it personal; if we intend to meet or see each other 'live' again, that will certainly happen. But I'm done with being 'digital social' for now. ️ ”
The rake by my 'friends'
Then the rake went through my 'friends'. Anyone with whom there was no 'real' contact for more than two years was removed from the list. I also removed myself from a number of group apps because every digital fart that comes out of your iPhone with a beep makes you nervous. The vibrate function also went out and I haven't received a 'pling' on an e-mail for years.
That sounds antisocial doesn't it? Well, I have plenty of nice 'real' contact and believe me: after you feel displaced for a while, it gives a sea of rest.
And then business?
Yes, that's a thing. Because to a large extent my work is social media. Although, if I look closely at what we are doing with SYSO, it is not that bad. With the exception of the Instagram course , all our SYSO tools and services are set up around branding , e-commerce , newsletters , blogging and quality content creation .
It's no secret that I try to depend as little as possible on social media. The love-hate relationship with Facebook and everything like it has always been there. But ever since Lush UK pulled the plug on all social media accounts in April , it hasn't let go of me...
Lush UK has stopped using social media
Long story short: Lush is tired of fighting the algorithm and no longer wants to pay to be visible in the newsfeed. Said Lush: “We don't want to limit ourselves to having conversations in one place. We want 'social' back in the hands of our communities - from our founders to our friends/fans/customers.” Currently Lush is looking for new ways, a new 'social approach' and we are very curious about that!
Because that independence from social media sounds GOOD! But... are you as an online company not dependent on social media? “Hm... to what extent is that the case?”, I wonder. Lush can do that because it's a big business. But if you are small (or smaller), without a substantial customer base and reach, is it possible? So now this question/challenge:
"What would it be like to have/maintain/run an online business (webshop) without social media?"
Because I've been sketching and painting again lately, Atelier Naber seems extremely suitable for that. A brand that we set up in 2010 to give my paintings a home. We also designed and sold silver jewelry under this name, including through our then webshop Applepiepieces.
I don't know exactly what we're going to do yet, but it would be nice if we could get Atelier Naber up and running without social media marketing. An interesting experiment, right? All social accounts have already been completely emptied:
- https://www.instagram.com/ateliernaber
- https://www.facebook.com/ateliernaber
- https://twitter.com/ateliernaber
- https://nl.pinterest.com/ateliernaber
Note August 2022: unfortunately the above has not yet been started due to lack of time. But what isn't...
Want to stay informed about this interesting experiment?
We're going to work on this. Within the Content coach program I will report in detail in the near future. If I notice something that is also useful to the participants, I will explain it in detail there. Are you also interested in it? Participate in this handy annual program with which you learn to create quality content to make your company visible to potential customers and make them come back. It won't surprise you that the emphasis is not on social media ;-)
