Several years ago, if you wanted to grow your business, Facebook was the most popular method. And many people still feel today that using this social media platform is practical.
This thought process is the glorified nativity. When Facebook launched in 2004, my friend called me and invited me to join her. After about a year I finally made it. It didn’t occur to me that I could grow a business using it.
Several years later, after closing my physical business, I helped other small business owners develop and grow their business on social media. And like most consultants, I recommended and used Facebook. My small business owners were successful, so I was successful.
Later, when I retired from small business consulting, I decided to open my doors to online marketing. And it was as fun as it was educational. Like so many other people, I learned from failure. Marketing anything online is challenging due to scams.
When I finally got my master’s degree from the University of Hard Knocks using the internet for my business ventures, I discovered that I, too, could use Facebook to grow and expand my bank account.
Using Facebook Groups and building relationships was easy. I opened four groups of my own. Everything was going great. Although he wasn’t completely satisfied with Facebook, it was paying off. And I bought advertising on Facebook from time to time.
Several of my business partners warned of changes on the horizon. But I was successful and I didn’t listen. That was my mistake.
The point here is this; do not trust this platform. They have a unique way of selling our personal information and an even more unique way of tracking our posts. (Yes, even our business content).
Insidious fact-checking is paramount. Mainly because fact checking is not fact checking, it is a way to silence and control our content.
Be careful if you are building your business on this platform. At any time they can disable their account. And most of the time you are not told exactly why.
I lost all my personal groups, in addition to my thousands of followers and my account. If I had only listened to my associates before this happened, I would never use this platform.
My business was moral, legal, ethical, and straightforward. I lost my Facebook account because my content did not fit their narrative.
I have opened a new account. But I will never again trust a platform that controls my content; business or personal.
Anyone who suggests you build your business with Facebook is naive. The market and business environment is not what it was five or ten years ago. Today, it’s about control. Your business is your livelihood; it’s your hard work. Think about it before moving on. You may want to make changes.