Are you read to lose your Facebook traffic?
The big news in the social media world is that Facebook is pressuring marketers to buy ads.
Instead of showing updates with organic search, marketers are now seeing their engagement numbers drop while Facebook peddles its advertising as a way for marketers to get the traffic back.
It’s not a surprise.
Facebook, like any business, needs to make profit. They don’t get paid when they show organic listings that businesses share. Facebook does get paid when businesses want to access the billion users that use the social networking site.
Social Media Networks Changing The Game
One of the recurring themes here on the GBW Blog is that you don’t control what social networks or even traffic services like Google do. They are in control of their platforms as they should be.
They’re going to do what’s best for them and that includes making changes.
These sites have changed design and function. Usually the changes are aimed at increasing their user counts and increasing the ways they can make money. It’s what any business does yet people get all up in arms when it happens.
This is not the first time Facebook has changed and it’s not the first time we’ve addressed their changes.
Owning Your Content And Your Platform
Check out these previous headlines from the blog:
- An Example of Why You Can’t Yield to Facebook
- More Struggles with Facebook
- Are Facebook Pages Even Worth It?
- Mark Cuban is Giving Up on Facebook
- Is Facebook Really Working For Your Company?
- What Happens to Your Business If Facebook Disappears?
- Marketers are Leaving Facebook
And those are just the ones on Facebook.
As marketers, it’s nice to get traffic from a source like Facebook, but you can’t count on it forever. There are too many variables in the online world to count on traffic from one source or even a handful of sources.
This is why it’s important to build content on your own platform and use a variety of outside platforms and audiences to build your own following.
When you have a blog you allow yourself the ability to share content on any social media site. If Facebook changes the game you can focus on sharing your content somewhere else.
Building your own email list in conjunction with your blog gives you a list of people that opt-in to your updates and you control the email platform. There is no one like Facebook there to change the game.
Conclusion
This is the not the first time a site like Facebook has changed the game.
And it won’t be the last either.
Social media sites, search engines and all other sources of traffic will do the same and more in the future.
Here’s how you can prepare.
Step 1: Start A Business Blog
Get yourself a WordPress blog. Come up with the 20 biggest questions your customers ask you and start writing and publishing. It’s your blog. You own the content and you can market it anywhere.
Step 2: Add An Email Program To Your Blog
You own the email program that goes with your blog. Nobody can change the rules.
Step 3: Use The Snippet Strategy
The Snippet Strategy allows you to share your content on any social network as long as they allow updates. You’re not creating anything new and unique for the social networks. They get your leftovers and their users are enticed to visit your blog to get the really good stuff.
There’s your homework.
Get out there and get started.