When you build a following of your prospects and clients on someone else’s public platform ... you put yourself, and your business, in a very compromised position. You are now 100% at their mercy. You have absolutely no control or say whatsoever ... over anything to do with your account or your followers.

Let’s take Facebook for example (and that includes Instagram because they own that too).

It’s no secret that Facebook has certain categories of what they deem to be “inappropriate” content that they openly prohibit.

But it would appear that they also have other seemingly innocuous categories in their “cross-hairs” as well.

Alternative Health & Wellness is just one such example (and many of my clients fall into this category ... which is why this is especially important)

The following Facebook pages have apparently been shut down or deleted (by Facebook) without warning ... this past year:

Collectively Conscious (915K followers)
Natural Cures Not Medicine (2.3M followers)
I Want to Be 100% Organic (700K followers)
Organic Health (230K followers)
Natural Cures From Food (120K followers)
Conscious Life News (1.1M followers)
Organic Wellness (600K followers)
Earth We Are One (1.7M followers)
Meditation Masters (2.3M followers)
Natural Health Warriors (140K followers)
The Global Meditation (70K followers)
Flower of Life (670K followers)
Health & Alternative Medicine (550K followers)
Pure Nature (1.7M followers)
Nature Gallery (654K followers)
Mesmerizing Nature (912K followers)
Nature’s Touch (150K followers)
Brighten Your Soul (100K followers)
Essence of Spirit (12K followers)
Healthy Life Box (1.8M followers)
Healthy Food House (3.4M followers)
Health Awareness (2.5M followers)
Healthy Life And Food (350K followers)
Health Care Above All (90K followers)
Health and Healthy Living (450K followers)
Health & Alternative Medicine (550K followers)
Healthy Living Motivation (644K followers)
Alternative Health Universe (420K followers)
Natural Medicine Corner (411K followers)
Organic Health Team (490K followers)
Global Health Care (130K followers)
Healthy Alternative Medicine (140K followers)
Natural Healthy Team (190K followers)
Organic Food Medicine (30K followers)
Love, Health and Happiness (10K followers)
Healthy Organic Life (25K followers)
Healthy Lifestyle (55K followers)
Guardian of Health (160K followers)
Daily Health Keeper (190K followers)
Health & Love Page (720K followers)
Nutrition Facts and Analysis (170K followers)
Healthy Living (1.8M followers)
Organic Planner (1.5M followers)
Healthy Lifestyle (1.4M followers)
Just Natural Medicine (1M followers)
Great Remedies – Great Health (650K followers)
Positive Reminders (781K followers)

That’s over 35 million followers ... up in smoke.

And it’s my understanding that there’s a lot more, and in other categories as well.

Let that sink in.

You spend a fortune and who knows how many years building a huge following, a livelihood, a business, a community.

And overnight ... someone hits the delete button while you’re asleep ... and it all vanishes without a trace.

Worst of all, there’s nothing you can do about it. These are private companies. They can do whatever they want to “your” account. Read their “Terms of Service.”

Look, I never visited any of those FB pages ... and I have no idea what they contained. But from the descriptions, they certainly don’t appear to be “objectionable” or “dangerous to society.”

No, what it looks like to me is that the common thread that they all might share ... is that some of what they may have been saying may have been seen as a threat to the interests (profits) of Big Pharma.

Funny that.

Big Pharma spends insane amounts of money on Facebook and other social ads.

Think they might have some “influence” at Facebook?

Think they might be flexing their “money muscles?”

Think this doesn’t apply to you because you’re not in that category?

Maybe you’re right.

But then again, maybe your “big competitor” just hasn’t flexed their “money muscle” yet.

And speaking of competitors, here’s something else to consider ...

When you build a following of your prospects and clients on someone else’s public platform, you make it easy for competitors (and even predators) to come along and specifically target all of your followers.

What’s worse ... that’s exactly how the social media companies make a lot of their money: By selling ads to your competitors ... and allowing them to directly target all of your people.

Now maybe you care about that ... and maybe you don’t ... but it’s at least something to consider and be aware of.

Think about it this way: Chances are you work really hard to take care of your people and do what’s in their best interest ... because you’re a good person and you really care about them. Unfortunately, not everyone is like that. How do you know that you’re not making it really easy for someone (or some company) with a sinister agenda to decide that your personal tribe of followers are the perfect “targets” and come along and exploit them?

What the big social media companies have done is absolutely genius. They have harnessed the incredible power of aggregating everyone else’s networks of friends, followers and clients ... and used it to generate billions of their OWN advertising revenue. They are exploiting everyone ... and even today, surprisingly few people are consciously aware of what’s actually happening.

Building a following and an audience on someone else’s platform ... benefits them far more than it benefits you. There are indeed benefits to you, but just be aware that those benefits are a form of bait to get you into their web so your network (and your content) can be exploited. And again, the most important thing to remember is that the social media companies own the platform (as well as your followers) ... and they create and change the rules of engagement on that platform on a whim and at a moment’s notice. You have absolutely no control or final say over how (or if) you get to interact with your own people.

And more and more these days ... you are being forced to pay ... to get a message out to your own followers. I would offer that now is a probably a good time to pay attention to the "writing on the wall" and start considering alternative strategies for managing and keeping in touch with your tribe and your people. Because chances are, it's not going to get any better. In fact it's probably going to get worse ... and perhaps even a lot worse.

From a professional perspective, it is MUCH smarter to build your audience on your own platform, rather than someone else’s.

The minute someone joins one of your social networks, your number one goal should always be to move them over to your own personal contact list (email is a good start) ... as quickly as possible.

At this point, I’m choosing to skip that step entirely and go direct. So if you would like to connect with me on a professional level ... it’s best not to contact me through social media at all ... because it’s unlikely that I will respond to you there. Emailing me directly (and joining my email list) are the ways to connect and stay in touch with me. Simply click the “Contact” tab above ... or fill-in the box below to join my email list.

That said, I’m very well aware (as I talk about in my Podcast & Radio Publicity training materials) of the opportunities that social media presents to be able to find and contact producers, hosts and shows (or anyone else you may wish to get in touch with) and I’m certainly an advocate of using social media for this purpose (especially Twitter & LinkedIn). In fact this is about the only reason I have social accounts at all.

So I’m not totally “Anti Social Media.” It has its place and its purpose. And its purpose and place for me are likely to be different than its purpose and place for you. Everyone has a different situation and agenda. I just believe that it’s important to be aware of all of the ramifications and limitations of social media before diving headlong into it and building your whole life, brand or community around it. Many have, and some have regretted it deeply.