Who controls your business?

I recently read an article on Copyblogger that resonated rather.

Count up the number of times you’ve been told that social media is really important for your business.  You must be on Facebook, you must be on Twitter, etc etc.  It’s all pretty overwhelming for a new business owner.  But for some, it’s a quick and easy alternative to an expensive website.  It’s a good way of marketing direct to their target market.

And even for a more established business with a professional website – “it’s still a better way of marketing direct to clients” they say.  And so Facebook gets updated while the website remains the same as it did 3 years ago. 

 

But there’s a slight problem with all of this.

You have no control over Facebook.  They can remove your page if they like.  They probably don’t mind too much about your business – they’re huge, you’re tiny.  They can change their policy.  I don’t know the ins and outs of their terms and conditions, but they could I suppose feasibly start introducing more ‘paid-for’ services.  The same goes for Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn…

Can you see the issue?

The risk is not so much in the use of social media, it’s rather when a social media platform becomes the hub of your marketing activity.  That’s risky.

 

What should you do?

Make your website (which you own and can control) the hub of your marketing activty, and use social media as it should be used for business – to share, network and link back to your website.

I like how the Copyblogger article puts it – totally up my street! –

There are three assets you should be building today, and should continue to focus on for the lifetime of your business:

1. A well-designed website with your own hosting account.

2. An opt-in email list, ideally with a high-quality autoresponder

3. A reputation for providing impeccable value

You can read the full Copyblogger article here: http://my.copyblogger.com/digital-serfdom/.