Why reading ‘I get all my business from Facebook’ gives me the willies.
I’m reading a few threads recently where people say ‘oh you don’t need a website, I’ve built my business on Facebook and/or Instagram’
Now don’t get me wrong, social media is ace – it’s brilliant for making connections, for showcasing your business, for giving people an insight into the daily life of your business and for getting clients and customers.
BUT, and this is the one main thing that gives me the willies when I read posts like the above – it is not yours. You don’t own it, all your business eggs are well and truly in someone else’s online basket. Which to me is pretty scary.
We all know there are times when FB goes down, we all hold our breaths, but it’s only for a short time, it comes back and we all have a big collective PHEW together. Well imagine if FB went down forever..
Or the rules changed, or the algorithm changed, or they decided that it was for personal use only and not business…
Are any of these things likely to happen? Maybe not, but maybe.* Who knows? And that’s the point – you have absolutely no way of knowing and no control over the platform that you have built your business on and get all your clients and customers from.
That to me is a big yikes!
So, I’m not saying don’t build your business on social media, the total opposite, please do – but at the same time please think about having a website as well. It doesn’t have to be huge, but it will be yours and that’s the most important thing.
If you’d like a teeny tiny website, nothing big, thing scary, but your very own digital home then do give me a shout.
* Update! – September 2020
I have recently heard of one person who had her Instagram account suspended after being reported – we assume by competition but we will never know for sure. This is the only place where she sells her dog treats and therefore was left with no sales channel.
Another person had their Etsy shop closed. This is being appealed but it’s currently still shut with no reply from Etsy other than a standard reply.
* Update! – October 2020
Instagram have just announced the decision that all items with shop tags now have to re direct to your own website. They will not allow you to tag products that link to Etsy, Folksy, NOTHS or any other multi vendor website. No personal website? No product tag.
If you’re a product seller and are ready to upgrade to your own store I can get you up and running on the Shopify platform quickly and effectively.
