“Alex, you need to make a Facebook page for your blog.”
“Alex, you need to make an Instagram account for your blog.”
“Alex, you’re not helping your brand (Me: Brand, what?) and allowing other people to discover your blog if you don’t have a Facebook Page or an Instagram account.”
Twitter wasn’t enough eh? Come on, I’m still getting used to that one.
Fine. Dear Universe and other kind peer pressuring bloggers, you win. I caved.
I gave into the Dark Side and made a Facebook page for my site, to make it easier for anyone who prefers to follow their blogs on there. It’s not that I don’t like Facebook I don’t trust Facebook, it’s just that I all the blogs I follow, I follow with Bloglovin and other Blog Readers and naively thought that’s what everyone prefers to do.
I know, my apologies.
So this morning at 6 am before I took my kids to the 3rd birthday party of the week while on cold medication that is competing with the humidity that has kicked in in our area as the best candidate to dry out my eyes, I made a Page for my blog on Facebook before I could look back and run. If you know me in real life, I am a very private person – which I realize is a huge oxymoron for someone who writes in a public space called the Internet – so believe me when I say this is a big deal for me. I’d say a good 95% of people on my personal Facebook page had no idea I had a blog. And it’s not that I am embarrassed about it either. I just didn’t start it out to become what it has grown to be. Which is a nice surprise.
And I really didn’t want to be that friend that you have that says “Hey I have a blog! Wanna read my blog? No really here’s my awesome blog!” We all have that friend. The one that posts their blog posts in the News Feed and you try to find a way to press Hide without them finding out. Kind of like that friend that always changes their Profile Picture every day (we know you’re there…you don’t have to keep doing it.)
No really, here’s my awesome blog on Facebook.
Come hang out. And press that taunting LIKE button.
PS – I have personal Instagram account that I have been using under a different name for a long time but I am finally got one set up for this site. I think it’s almost a better avenue for my thrift store adventures because everything looks better with a Instagram Filter. Oh don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about.
On that Instagram note, if you’re an Instagram addict, you MUST watch this mock video of it and try not to wake your neighbours laughing. By the time the duck part came on, oh man.
24 Comments
Stephen Hughes
June 23, 2013 at 4:46 pmThought about Pinterest as well! Tumblr works just the same – as your pictures are just links to your website! And gets you more hits!
Alex
June 23, 2013 at 4:50 pmThanks Stephen! 🙂 I have a Pinterest account. http://pinterest.com/northstory/ You can also link to it via the button in my sidebar.
If I got on Tumblr I’d never leave my computer.
tammigirl
June 23, 2013 at 5:41 pmI’m with you – I don’t follow blogs on facebook either. But I found yours because of facebook because one of my friends followed you and it caught my eye. So take that!
I so don’t follow blogs on facebook that if they make me follow them on facebook by begging or bribing me I do – and then most blogs are immediately unchecked from ‘show in news feed’. They get the numbers they so desperately wanted and I don’t see any of it. Win-Win? No? I don’t know.
I think I have less than 30 followers on facebook, which follows along closely with how many people probably actually read any given post on my blog. Cheers!
p.s. I hope I can sign up for your emails. That’s how I follow the blogs I like. 😉
Alex
June 23, 2013 at 6:18 pmGo figure!
All my Pages Feed is separate and I check it throughout the week. My Bloglovin Reader on a Monday alone will cause me to need a Whisky and Ginger Ale.
I definitely have good old school email. Top Right in my Sidebar.
Victoria • Restoring our Victorian
June 23, 2013 at 6:15 pmWell. I already liked you… But now I “like” you.
I guess we’re officially friends now.
Alex
June 23, 2013 at 6:17 pmIsn’t it so strange? Suddenly I am being reminded of all the blogs I went to that when they hold contests you can submit an Entry by Liking their page. That drove me insane. I want people to follow me b/c they want to not b.c they feel they have to. Mind you if they want to just b/c I ask I won’t decline…
Gilit
June 23, 2013 at 7:01 pmWelcome to the dark side! I like emails best also but there are some blogs that I like in Facebook because then my inbox isn’t as full and I can pretend I waste less time
Alex
June 23, 2013 at 10:21 pmWaste less time on the internet? How is that even possible? Remember I was the one who has the No Cell Phones Allowed sign in her living room and we completely ignore it. I mean we have a rule that after the kids go to bed, phones go off or it’s so easy to get on them 24/7.
Lauren @ The Thinking Closet
June 24, 2013 at 12:19 amNo joke, I actually searched for your blog page on Facebook recently…I forget why, I think I wanted to link to you or like Gilit, pretend to “waste less time”…and now my dream has become a reality! Ha ha. I held off from FB and Twitter for many months. It was only this past February when I crossed over to the dark side. Mwah-ha-ha.
And that Instagram video was hilarious. “Lo-Fi, Lo-Fi” was my favorite part.
Off to go “like” a blog that I love. (Yes yours!)
Alex
June 24, 2013 at 9:08 amYour taking over Facebook!! WOOHOO!!
It’s dangerous being on there b/c you from from comments on your blog, twitter, then Pinterest and then Facebook. It’s like do we ever leave the computer? Uh oh…
Lauren @ The Thinking Closet
June 24, 2013 at 1:18 pmI know…it’s bad sometimes. Going on a little trip soon where I plan to take a hiatus. It’s no good being tethered to my phone or a computer at all times. We’ve got to get out there and LIVE LIFE after all.
Danielle
June 24, 2013 at 1:19 amThanks for encouraging me to join you on the Dark Side. I’m already having fun with it.
PS. Shamefully, Lo-Fi is one of my favorite filters and I think of this video every time I use it. 🙂
Alex
June 24, 2013 at 9:08 amAnd now you have one more LIKE. I sound like a teenager…
the home tome
June 24, 2013 at 6:34 amBravo! Though I am an avid FBer I haven’t made a blog page yet…(no twitter, no instagram either…ah…) There are only so many hours in a day, ha! 🙂
Alex
June 24, 2013 at 9:09 amIt’s out of control. My husband is going to take away my phone by the end of summer. If there was like button on this comments, he’d press it.
Neaten Your Nest
June 24, 2013 at 9:07 amWell good for you for doing facebook for the reason of promoting your blog. You don’t have to be a social media vixen to get on board the facebook train! I have a FB page and feel so weird every time my personal page ‘likes’ my Neaten Your Nest page so I can get more exposure. I have those friends who are constantly asking me to ‘like’ their business. It can be irritating, but you know what? They are super successful, so there must be something to it, right??? Good luck! 🙂
Alex
June 24, 2013 at 9:11 amDo you know I *just* clued into that? I’ve been Liking pages with the wrong name and now I am going back and trying to use my “blog account” to Like everyone’s pages so they know it’s me.
Neaten Your Nest
June 24, 2013 at 10:19 amIt’s all such a pain, right? I wish we could just write and people would find us, but it isn’t so!
Dani @ lifeovereasy
June 24, 2013 at 7:49 pmHilarious video! Glad you jumped on the bandwagon. I was a little reluctant at first too, but I must say I have really enjoyed connecting with some great new people. I found this blog thru the Canadian Women Bloggers fb group – that’s a good thing, right?
Martina
June 25, 2013 at 11:12 amI’ve been resisting the jump to FB for my blog for many of the same reasons as you — I feel like I have my bases covered with pinterest, twitter and instagram and can find it difficult to keep up with those at times.
Besides that, I don’t use FB for personal use. At all. Like don’t even have a profile set up. So I feel like It would be a LOT more than just setting up a blog page if I made that leap.
I’d probably fall into the tumblr rabbit hole first.
Social media is very much “YMMV” and I like that you can choose your own “portions” like a dinner buffet — take what you like and skip what you don’t.
The video made my day though, even if tea went up my nose!
Kelly (Cobwebs, Cupcakes and Crayons)
June 25, 2013 at 11:48 amI hear you. I don’t even have a personal Facebook page, so making one for my blog was really strange. I just created a twitter and instagram account, myself…but have yet to actually post anything. Baby steps, right? 🙂
Bewildered Bug
June 27, 2013 at 7:37 pm*lol* I caved about a year and a half ago – small things like this are good to cave to – but when it gets to the point where it compromises you and the meaning of your blog be careful. Congrats on the facebook! <3
now at home mom
June 28, 2013 at 9:10 pmYAY! YAY! Alex! Just LIKED you! 🙂 Well, I meant your page! ha!ha! 🙂 I joined facebook back in December and I forget to use it to read blogs; so much social media going on! I’m not good at this! 🙂
Jessica Gordon Ryan (@GimletStyle)
July 1, 2013 at 12:53 pmI look at it this way… People “like” my page because they want to… not because they are obligated to. I also know that they don’t have to read everything I post… some things might interest some readers while others things interest others. I certainly don’t read everything I “like” but I have the option to do so! It’s definitely helped traffic…
And, um… er, The Entertaining House has a facebook page too! 😀