With ownership comes power. When you own your home, you can decide on the color of the exterior. When you own your own car, you put any bumper sticker you feel fits. When you own your own travel business, you can make decisions about what to sell and to whom. So why on earth would you opt to allow someone else to make the decisions about your online presence?
Over the years, and still, to this day, I run across travel professionals who feel that Facebook is the perfect place for their agency’s online presence. Of course, you need to be on Facebook and several other social platforms; but solely relying on that is a recipe for failure.
Case and point. Twitter. Personally, I love(d) Twitter. It was a fun platform, a great way to keep up on current trends, challenging to get a message in 140 characters, and, dare I say, enjoyable. The platform was loved by many until Elon Musk took it over and started making changes. And just last week, NPR stopped using the platform. Why? Musk initially labeled their account “State Sponsored Media” and then, after an outcry, relabeled it “Government Supported Media.” Agree or disagree with the change—Musk was within his rights to do it because he owns the sandbox! And there was nothing NPR or anyone could do about it.
Now for those agencies exclusively on Facebook (which is facing its own struggles), what happens if Mark Zuckerberg decides to change the platform in some fundamental way? Maybe they will require payment for commercial accounts and downgrade the ones that do not pay (a throwback to those that remember the glory days of the GDS)? What if they decide that images are no longer allowed? All commercial pages must pay a commission to Facebook for any sales resulting from that page. These seem far-fetched, of course, and likely would never materialize. But they could. Why? Because Facebook owns that sandbox! They make the rules!
If you are not on your own platform, stop what you are doing right now and at least buy a sandbox domain. Then work on setting it up. The bare minimum you need is a contact form to capture your prospect’s information, some great graphics, and an “about us” page with all your contact information. From there, you can build.
You would never let someone else determine what tattoo you get or select a color car you abhor. Do not allow someone to call the shots with your business.
