144: Don't Build Your Social Business on Rented Land

What happens to your anxiety level and blood pressure when you think about Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram going away? Does it rise? Does it stress you out?  If Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or Snapchat were to drop off the face of the earth tomorrow what would happen to your business? Would your business be negatively impacted? Would it thrive or would it crumble under algorithm changes and paid media models being aggressively implemented by every social network that hits prime time.  Are you building your business on digital property that you own? Or are you too dependent upon the social networks and larger social ecosystem for your business success?  Are you building your business on rented land? Are you building your business on social land that is far from a solid foundation to build your life and business upon?  Building your business foundation on digital and social networks you don't own puts your business at much risk. You have no control on what these social networks do, what happens with their product roadmaps or how your audience and ideal customer react to their upcoming changes in the future.  Simply take a look at Facebook, Twitter and any social network for that matter and you'll see how quickly they are changing. Facebook organic reach is in the tanker. Brand and digital marketers who put all of their social eggs in the organic Facebook basket are being hit incredibly hard.  Don't let this happen to you. You need to build your own plan, strategy and integrated platform that inspires, attracts, engages and nurtures your ideal customer. You need to look past the numbers and market segment statistics and connect with real human beings in real ways on your owned digital property.