Many brands love their Facebook Page, their fans, their promos, their tabs and let’s not forget, all the comments, Likes and all that fun. But what happens when Facebook forecloses on those Internet properties?
You realize they’re not yours to begin with, right? They’re Facebook’s.
Facebook doesn’t owe you any notice before they change the way they do business on their platform. Facebook runs the game. Facebook writes the rules and you’re just participating.
Before sinking a ton of money into establishing Facebook presence, consider that it’s a platform and it can change at anytime. Tomorrow, Facebook could get acquired by AOL and downsized into abad investment. Think about what would happen if you had to shell out some dough for the liberty of having a page. Would you?
I’m not speculating; I’m just making the point they could significantly change their Pages platform. Nobody tell Arrington, please.
Facebook isn’t to blame, per se. They are playing the game right holding pocket aces and you got a two-pair. Do you want your community to be in the fray of that gamble? I don’t.
The solution is to establish a true community. A community where users stay connected, free of any specific platform or service. I’m an advocate of discussion forums (…I know there’s a much deeper discussion here…) for facilitating a community where users can join and stay in touch with your brand and you can build interactions that move the needle for users and the business.
Building self-sustaining communities is what I love and that’s what I’m in the midst of doing at my work. While we pay our dues to Facebook (almost literally: we run a formidable pay-per-click budget on them), I’m not one to ignore the reality that Facebook is a platform and not so much the best place to host a community for a brand. I see it as a valuable extension, but certainly not the core. Know what I mean?
When you build your customer community, you probably want them on your turf. This doesn’t mean that you control the discussion – it means you’re host to it. Enjoy that privilege.
When will Facebook foreclose on your Page? Only time will tell, but don’t sink all your eggs in one basket, my friends.
Image credit: Global X
