Has it come to this? Time to delete Facebook? Everyone has a personal decision in this and everything in their lives. But, I believe the answer is NO.
- Don’t get mad about the data collection. You gave it to them! You chose to take the quiz to find out what Disney princess or Star Wars character you are! The data is cultivated by everything you click, share, comment, like, view etc. on Facebook. In short, everything is being tracked.
- If this data collection makes you angry, then never use any type of electronic device ever again. Facebook is not the only company collecting data. Every company and electronic device are doing it. It is very easy for people to say dump Facebook, but what about your grocery stores, Amazon, Google, etc. Dumping Facebook is just a bandwagon response right now that is gaining media attention.
- Facebook does have a problem that they need to resolve and that is transparency. “Fake News” ads were created to cause confusion and sow seeds of anarchy in the past election, gun control, Black Lives Matter, etc. Facebook needs to review these ads more closely and has made major changes. Prime example: Facebook Zero, Facebook Apocalypse. – AKA January 11th, 2018. Facebook drastically changed it ad policies.
So, what are agents and business professionals to do?
Here are 8 ways to take back control.
- No more boosted posts right now. They just don’t work anymore. If you are going to do ads, become target specific by using Facebook Ads.
- Don’t expect your news to come from Facebook. Get back to what it was intended to be in the beginning. Connect and reconnect with friends, family and potential clients.
- Private messaging has and always will be a strength of Facebook. Drop the ads and start connecting.
- Create posts that encourage engagements.
- If you are going to do ads then start with Facebook Live. Live posts will naturally reach more people and stay in the news feed longer. Then, if you want, you can create an ad out of the videos.
- Create a Facebook Live video, save it and then you can download it. Once you download it, you can then upload it to YouTube. Get the best of both worlds!
- Review your Facebook settings. Log into Facebook and go to settings. On that page, you can download a copy of your Facebook data. See what data you have given to Facebook over the years. This is a great way to get a list of your current FB friends.
- On the settings page, look for Ads. You then have the ability to adjust what ads you see and what categories that have put you in. Take ownership of that data that is out there and being shown to you.