CG #005: Do You ACTUALLY Own Your Content?
Do you ACTUALLY own your content?
And can you honestly say your entire audience VIEWS what you post?
Today I’m going to teach you about
Home Ownership For Your Content & Audience
You’ve probably witnessed the many slip ups Instagram and Facebook have made when it comes to:
- Privacy policies
- Randomly shutting down for a day
- Their users unexpectedly losing followers
- Making it harder for creators when they change their algorithms
These are the issues that you, the tenant, are at risk of experiencing in their apartment building because your CONTENT lives there.
At Any Moment Your Landlord Could:
- Raise The Rent – meaning you need to spend more time on their platform.
- Change The Payment Method – meaning you HAVE to use their new features before they show your content to people.
- Give You A Violation Notice – or flag/suspend your account for X amount of time.
- When Someone Breaks In, They Take Forever To Get Your Stolen Items Back – meaning your account was hacked and you just have to wait until they get your account back (IF they get it back).
As an entrepreneur or content creator, it’s not safe for you to solely rely on social media platforms.
You could lose all of your hard work in the blink of an eye, and your whole audience would be gone. *Snap* Just like that.
So before TikTok possibly shuts down or Instagram glitches again, these are 3 things you should have in order so your content strategy is immune to the next shut down:
#1 – Backup Your Content In Several Locations.
Save all of your content on some sort of cloud service like Dropbox AND on an external hard drive.
As a photographer I try to save several version of my work in 3 different locations so I’m always prepared to grab old content and repurpose it.
#2 – Have A Permanent Home For Your Content.
I use WordPress for my RedOctoberFirm.com and my business partner, Adran (also the web designer of the business), manages it.
He also uses WordPress for our local business client’s websites as well because Google favors and recognizes websites on WordPress as more established and authentic, compared to a website on platforms like Wix or Squarespace.
And as a business owner you DEFINITELY want Google to favor you as an authority in your industry. Because then, Google will recommend you to their users.
When you host your websites on platforms like Wix or SquareSpace, you’re still paying a monthly subscription to rent space on their platform.
And there are still limitations to what you can do on them.
In real life, you DON’T want to live in an apartment forever. Right?
At some point you want to stop renting and eventually OWN a house.
The same standard should be applied to your content and website.
So when you host your website on WordPress, you own your house and the property it’s on.
#3 – Have A Home For Your Audience.
Let’s say you’re hosting your guests in an AirBnb, event space, or even in your apartment.
Because you occupy that space, there are limits and rules you have to follow in order to entertain your guests.
Those limits include timing, not being able to play music as loud as you want to, and even a capacity limit to the amount of people you can host.
This sucks…you don’t want this.
Because if you do break any of these rules:
The police will shut it down, you’ll get a fine, or you’ll have to pay MORE money to keep entertaining your guests in that space.
Without owning your platform (website, or email list) you’re just making content for your audience on social media platforms.
Hosting your guests at your own house, means you have complete control over what you can do.
You set the rules. Play your music as loud as you want. And invite as many people as you want.
This translates to having your audience join your email list.
With An Email List You Have Complete Control Over:
- How frequently you talk to them
- How many people you can have on your list
- Wining and dining them through valuable email content
- Selling and recommending any products you want as often as you’d like
And if someone decides to act wild, or is completely unresponsive, you can kick them out!
The benefit of an email list: You have total control of your connection to your audience.
And if they’re true fans of your content and business, they’ll be happy to give you feedback AND their money! Lol
This is what it means to have a home for your audience.
THIS is Owning Your Content.
This newsletter was a little longer than average, but it’s PACKED with some valuable (and very important) info everyone, business owner or not, should incorporate.
The protection of your content shouldn’t be dependent upon the platforms you post on.
Hopefully these tips were helpful. Let me know what else you’d like to see in my upcoming newsletters.
Talk soon!
Kyra
Whenever You’re Ready Here Are 2 Ways I Can Help You:
CONTENT DONE RIGHT eBook – Content made easy for every entrepreneur, business owner, and content creator who feels lost, stuck, and stagnant in their content creation/marketing.
Web Design Service – Schedule a call to work with an expert web designer and give your business the attention it deserves.
