If you’re about to start or in the process of building a brand, you might want to take a seat for this one👇🏽
This is my last-bele advice to you…
Do you remember last year I talked about my Facebook account being shut down at the time when I was actively reporting politics? I wrote to Facebook and they said my posts were ‘inciting violence’ and that’s why they took me off the platform. I lost everything and had to start afresh (follow me keenly). So in May 2021, I mustered the courage to re-join Facebook and created a brand new account that I’ve been growing since then–this time I decided to leave all the political wahala exclusively for the news website). But this week, I’ve been served another temporary restriction. As I write, I’m unable to run ads and my posts are being pushed down in news feeds
Why?
A friend jokingly tagged me under an image and in a playful way, I replied “I’m ashamed that you couldn’t recognise me” and boom I got a restricted. But my Smart Friend, this isn’t about me, it’s about you. I love social media, it gave me a way better life and opportunities with my business but thinking back at all the forth and back makes me always find a small plan B. I talked about this on the email ‘The Facebook Outage’ (search your inbox and read again) but I wanted to share this again because it’s so important👇🏽
If you’re a business owner, a blogger, coach, content creator, artist, comedian or whatever brand you’re building, build an email list of your prospects, fans and clients. You see me do this all the time. I’m not stupid!. Policies, algorithms and keywords will not always favour you and me. As you create content and deliver value, likes and followers is awesome, it’s great social proof that screams “high status”…
But you can be kicked out anytime!
So remember to convert that attention you attract, into a traffic source that you OWN, CONTROL and can use at WILL. When investors say they’re buying a business, they’re not just paying for the business idea and systems, they’re paying for the data–emails and contacts of prospects and customers. And this is what makes the difference between you who’s building a solid brand and any other charlatan making noise on this space
So , I ask you again…
With all the energy you put on social media platforms, the brand page you’re growing, the fans you’re gathering and the connections you’re making… If the BIG MAN kicks out your page/profile today, where would you start? So keep doing your thing and growing your presence online. But in all you do, at the back of your mind, the goal is to drive that traffic into something you OWN and can CONTROL at will. On building an email list, last time I talked about checking Active Campaign with a 14 day trial. It’s currently my favourite email marketing software but I figured out you may be starting to build an email list afresh and may need a free option. So I’m now adding Mailchimp to the suggestion. It’s free for your first 1,000 contacts. Go create an account in any of these email marketing platforms and start to assemble an email list of your supporters, buyers and followers. That’s how you build a tribe and become bullet proof if the BIG MAN ever kicks you out
Speak soon ,
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Arrey Bate
Internet Entrepreneur | Author | Journalist