Social Media Outposts Come and Go
Let me take you on a wayback machine trip to circa 2009, when Twitter was still a start-up, and it was before perhaps the most dynamic platform, FriendFeed, was swallowed up by Facebook. Attending a WordCamp in Las Vegas, I heard Chris Brogan clarify a strategy, his homebase and outposts, that still resonates today. Even that far back, when the ecosystem of social media was not nearly as complicated, it was clear that social media platforms had to be treated as rentals, and only your own website domain was an actual property.
Social Media, Where Your Content is Not Your Own
This post is not an anti-social media. But it is a cautionary tale. As we have seen with certain political figures, social media companies have the right to shut down accounts that do not follow content regulations. The analogy of a landlord removing a tenant is apt. Do you, like most, tend to check yes to the required user agreements without reading through them?
Secondly, what is the reason to remain active on a social media site if your goals are showing little or no return on investment. The huge transfer of market share from Facebook to TikTok in recent years demonstrates this well. And then all the TikTok creators realized they were out on a limb (without a home base) when geopolitical concerns almost shut them down. Again, the platform is not their own.
Social media platforms are marketplaces, and need to be considered as such. While you might accomplish great sales at a farmer’s market of your niche product, or even make excellent networking connections while shopping for heirloom tomatoes, the market is not your home base.
It’s OK to Change Your Social Media Outposts
When you do a random sampling of nonprofits and businesses, it seems they must feel obligated to have a Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter presence, regardless of the ROI. That thinking, or even more accurately, that practice, needs to end.
In closing, it’s fun to look back on these 100 tactics of getting the most from your home base and social media outposts. While many platforms are long gone, the essentials have stayed very much the same.