The big social media platforms are always changing, searching for new ways to gain users, keep engagement up and make money. Yesterday, Google+ announced new leadership and the reorganization of some of the features. Within the last year, Facebook has changed the way business pages are able to reach followers, drastically dropping organic reach. Twitter is working on implementing more advertising and native video. And the list of changes goes on and is happening on every single social media platform.
With the adoption of social media as a 'required' marketing element for business, one important reality is often overlooked...that every single one of the platforms is owned by someone else. As a user of any of those platforms, you have absolutely no control over what they decide to change, how they decide to present your information and when they will require paid inclusion. While I don't underestimate the value social media can provide right now, I don't think it's a good idea to have your on line efforts solely focused there. The best questions you can ask yourself are,
"What if (social-media-platform-of-choice) disappeared today?
Would I still have an effective on line presence for my business tomorrow?"
The very best approach to social media is to use it as a supplemental tool, not as the end-all-be-all of your on line presence. It is time for you to own your on line presence and not leave it in the hands of others. So how do you accomplish that? Develop and maintain a good website.
So in the end, make the effort to develop your website - it is truly the element of your on line presence that will stand the test of time.
