Recently I've been hearing people say things like, "You no longer need a website, people are on their phone on social media, so that is all you should focus on." Or other statements that elude to this notion such as, "Building your shopping cart system into the Facebook Platform is one of the best ideas ever! You no longer need a website!"
Let me set the record straight. With 1.5 MILLION people connected to me on social media, 1 million alone on our Facebook page and millions of dollars in profits that come in every year to our corporation, there's a big reason WHY you still need a website. Don't miss this. Don't listen to someone who 'masters' one or two platforms and then tells you that you don't need a website simply because they hate updating theirs. The same kind of bogus nonsense floats around email as well. People saying, "Email deliverability is so low you don't need to use it anymore." Same thing, always said by someone who ONLY sends out promotions and NEVER sends out a newsletter or anything tied to relationship. They don't like email and they aren't getting great results with email because they ONLY time they email you is to SELL you something.
If you don't have a website, listen to me very carefully, you own NOTHING online. You're homeless. You have no real estate, you are under the control of someone else's property and when push comes to shove, you my friend are in a big pickle! If Facebook, InstaGram, Twitter, Pinterest, Buffer, Rebel Mouse or any other platform ever shuts down, makes new rules, changes things on you this is how that will affect you: It's like a board of directors meeting together and NOT letting you in on the decision making. They'll come back to you and tell you what you can and can't do. And here's the WORST part, you have nothing to say about it. Because YOU my friend don't own any of the real estate!
I am not suggesting that you should only blog! I am not saying you should not spend your time on social media where billions of people are every single day! I am also not saying you should freak out, lose sleep, and throw a website up just to 'get it done!'. What I am asking you to do is act maturely, wisely and behave like a business owner.
You must cover your assets. Be sure to have a website AND social media.
The things that make you money are where you need to keep your security high. Your content is directly related to this. Building relationships on social media is one of if not the best thing you can do today online for business. I've been online running my corporations successfully now for 18 years, so this is not theory, it's not a guess, it's truth established with consistent experience and results. When you are building these relationships on social media you MUST have a place you can call your own, that YOU own. No one can tell you what to write on this piece of real estate. No one is regulating you, monitoring you and telling you when and how to do things.
I am all for crop sharing with the most successful channels online, such as Facebook and Twitter. GO where your idea clients are! BE there everyday! Engage, have relationship and sell there! I'm all for building a huge following on InstaGram and Pinterest and spending your time connecting, relatinng and selling there. But if you throw out the website, you are homeless. When push comes to shove, well, you're in trouble.
What do you do if Facebook goes down? Or Pinterest? HOW do people get ahold of you?
When you think like a business owner think SATURATION. You want to saturate the market, you don't want to just own one platform. You want to get really good at being everywhere that your ideal client is at. That is why you see me, my pink hair and our message EVERYWHERE you go. We've done this intentionally.
So, today's update is this: If you hear this kind of thing, just smile. Don't pick a fight. Don't try to correct the person. Just realize that owning real estate online is important and you need to have a place you can call your own. Direct your traffic from Facebook and Twitter THERE. Build relationship around yourself and your message.
This is what we call "The Circle Of Life For Your Business." TM (see below) Build your business around the top platforms and direct them back to your blog and connect through email as well. It's beautiful and it's a business model that works with ANY and all businesses!
With love,
Sandi Krakowski
