| For the first time in history, Facebook, Instagram and Messenger crashed for more than 6 hours This crash was the number one trending topic in the world with 5 million plus searches in the first hour and many… While the world is complaining, some smart people will use this as an opportunity to grow their brands and business (the ones that will read and implement this carefully) The crash immediately reminded me of something which happened 9 months ago and I think I shared that with you … The day when I lost my Facebook account for political reasons and I nearly went crazy during that period. It was barely two weeks to our event Afrikpreneur2020 and I can’t stress how much we survived because we OWNED a list and could still reach out to the community independently of other platforms But again, I had to come back and start from scratch so I know what it means like to forcefully start from zero and that’s why I’ve been talking about building skyscrapers on another man’s land , let’s be honest, if the Facebook and Instagram decides to permanently disable your accounts, would you still be in business? In case you’re not aware, there’s a popular report saying the outage could have been indirectly caused by a whistle blower Sophie Zhang If you haven’t heard of it yet, Zang is an American data scientist and whistle-blower who formerly worked at Facebook and from 2018 to 2020, it is reported that she was investigating “fake engagement” at Facebook. Sophie has been granting several interviews and saying she uncovered abusive political manipulation and opposition harassment networks in 25 countries. That most of these subversive networks use Facebook’s organization pages, configured with human names and photographs to mimic human accounts, in order to successfully evade Facebook’s emerging efforts to counter fake users , so theorists are saying Facebook caused the outage themselves because they wanted to take the focus away from their internal policies as they risked being investigated heavily Do we know the truth? NO! this is a fight we can’t even confirm but clearly you and I need to figure out a way to save ourselves first… If you run a business and you’re not building an email list of your prospects and customers, then you’re not building a solid sustainable business and you can crash any time the big men go down I see a lot of my friends, influencers, businesses, they have such such good following online with incredible content and they’re happy with the likes and comments that they get… Or bloggers who create Facebook pages and toil for years updating them without a website or create a list of their readers I hope you now see that without your own list(emails, phone numbers), you are a slave to the ever-changing platforms, their algorithms and servers. In 2013 when Facebook was offering to buy 3 year old Snapchat for $3 billion, it wasn’t because her experts could not build an app like Snapchat or something better In fact, it’ll take those guys a couple of minutes to create something that will stun the world They were offering to buy the lists, the data, the millions of users who had already signed up and were using Snapchat daily When you’re on a borrowed land, remember that the goal is to convert those fans, followers and readers into a home that you OWN and can CONTROL at any time (a lot of you have watched me do this every time) So what exactly should you start doing differently from today ? 1. Create an email list and start to keep record of your prospects, fans, readers, followers and customers When Burna Boy released his ‘Twice As Tall Album’ and hit millions of streams in few days, I remember digging to learn the marketing strategy behind the album success Aside his personal brand, one of the things I discovered was that Puff Daddy who executively produced the album used his email list with millions and millions of people to run a campaign promoting the album Can you imagine getting an email from your celebrity asking you to check something out? If you’re a coach, business owner or entrepreneur, create a list of your followers. If you’re into fashion, create a list of your customers and prospects, if you’re a writer, create a list of your readers and start to build a home that will stand when the wind comes My friend, if you’re anything like me, the goal is always to create content here that people love and relate with – and immediately feed off the attention you generate to drive people into something you OWN and CONTROL at will (your lists) I wouldn’t end this without pointing you back to my favorite email software I trust and use to build my own email and phone number lists – Active Campaign. I’ve used AC for the last 2 years to build lists, set automations and constantly run campaigns I have tried all the other famous ones, more than 10 of them (you know the ones I mean) and this one wins by far for me… If you’re building a business, please head on to AC, create a trial account and start to keep a list of your clients and prospects. 2. Consciously start to build a the list every day My friends, keep creating the content you create now, but here’s what I want you to do differently… Go to Active Campaigns, copy a subscription form and paste to your website. if you don’t have a website, get the same link in your posts and add them to the incredible content you create. Your real followers will take note and start to follow your land, they will become your tribe That’s how you can control your business and totally have your say in your hand. As You create you list, start to share your journey, updates of your products and your work I’d say it again my , when you’re on a borrowed land, remember that the goal is to convert those fans, followers and readers into a home that you OWN and can CONTROL at any time I really believe any entrepreneur, business or brand without an online strategy won’t survive, I can almost promise it! Once again, here’s the sign up link and I hope this article does not fall on deaf ears. Please share this with someone who runs a business, an artist friend you know, a comedian, a write and pretty much anyone who’s building a brand The only way we can keep growing is if we’re committed to helping each other this way Talk soon .. (Oh hey, I just got featured on the cover of the National Post Newspaper. That’s crazy news and I haven’t shared it with anyone yet…haha ! You can get a copy from any newspaper stand in Cameroon or click the Image below to read a soft copy for FREE —— But first, remember to go create an Active Campaign Account and save your brand, one step of action is better than reading hundreds of my stories…) Arrey Bate Internet Entrepreneur | Journalist | Author |
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