You can’t control what you don’t own
Facebook is down. Instagram is down. Messenger is down. You can’t talk to anyone… because you’ve given too much control to channels you don’t own.
When you post to any social media channel, you don’t control who sees it and you don’t get to capture all the data you could possibly want to gain from your target market. You only get what they deem necessary for you to have. You own nothing.
If this has taught us anything, it’s that we rely too heavily on social media as our shining magic wand to speak to our audience. The truth is, social media was never this. Social media is ONE piece of a larger marketing landscape for your business. It should be a part and should work cohesively with your other organic and paid efforts, but it isn’t magic. It doesn’t automatically make all your dreams come true (virality is a thing but it has more to do with luck than most people realized) and have potential customers rush through your doors or website.
I hope you will truly take the time to sit down and decide what your communication strategy really is. Are you betting your business on a couple cute pictures on Instagram and an event post on Facebook? There has to be more than that.
These social media channels make changes all the time and we’ve all heard how you need to try to “beat the algorithm” in order to be successful. The truth is the only way to do that is to have control and you don’t have control of the communication unless you have control of the data.
Do you have an email list? How did you get the emails? How often do you reach out to them? Are you starting from scratch? Take steps today to start seeing how you can start growing your list. The emails of your audience, especially people who like your business and can be repeat customers as well as ambassadors for your brand, are priceless especially when your go-to options are bricked for who knows how long.
Consider your control. As a business owner, you want to have as much control as you want. Why would you gladly give that over to a channel that could change how your content is seen at any given time? Why would you give that control to a platform that wants you to spend money to see more engagement and views?
Take control today.
