Why Owning Your Core Platform Matters

Are you building your business on rented digital land? In this episode, we reveal the hidden costs of relying on social media as your primary customer engagement platform. While platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok offer massive reach, they also come with unpredictable algorithms, restricted visibility, and the constant risk of losing access to your connections overnight.

Discover why owning your own online business platform is crucial for long-term business success and how to start building one today. We’ll share actionable steps for creating a space where you control the communication, the content, and the relationship with your customers—without interference from third-party platforms.

If you’re serious about growing your business with a solid, scalable foundation, this episode is for you. Start owning your customer relationships today!

🔑 What You'll Learn:

• The dangers of relying the wrong platforms to build your business
• Why owning your platform is the key to sustainable growth
• How to create a platform that fosters engagement and loyalty

Chapters:

00:00 - Introduction: The Risks of Building Your Business On a Platform You Don't Own

03:15 - Why Social Media Isn’t a dependable Business Platform

07:45 - The Power of Platform Ownership in Customer Engagement

12:30 - How Changes Beyond Your Control Can Hurt Your Business Overnight

17:10 - Actionable Steps to Start Building Your Own Platform

21:55 - Success Stories: Businesses That Switched to Owned Platforms

26:30 - Final Takeaway: Build a Platform That Works for You

🚀 Key Takeaways:

✅ Owning your platform gives you the ownership of all aspects of your business

✅ Building a platform you own creates long-term stability and trust with your customers.

💬 Join the Conversation:

Have you started building your own platform yet? Share your thoughts and connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tara-bryan/

👍 Enjoyed this episode?

Make sure to like, subscribe, share and turn on notifications for more insights on building an infinitely scalable business!

About Me:

Hey, it’s your host, Tara Bryan. And I am on a mission to help more business owners learn to infinitely scale their businesses by leveraging the power of online without sacrificing the customer experience or results. 

I like to geek out on all things business strategy, marketing, interactive digital and user experience. This podcast is all about what is working, lessons learned and actionable tips to create and grow a thriving online business. 

Join us each week as we dive into different strategies, tactics and tips you can apply immediately to your business.

To learn more:

Find us at https://www.taralbryan.com

Here are two ways we can help you create, grow and scale your business:

1. Want to package your expertise or become a Scalable Expert? Take our free quick assessment to see how close you are to creating a scalable business.

The Scalable Expert Assessment

2. ALREADY HAVE AN ONLINE BUSINESS & READY TO INFINITELY SCALE?

Download our free 50 Ways to Engage Your Customers guide or Schedule a 30 minute call with Tara to talk about our offers that will help you master the game.

Thanks for...

Episode Transcript

Tara Bryan (00:00):
Welcome to the Scalable Expert, the podcast where we unlock
the secrets to building a businessthat grows with you, not around you.
I'm your host, Tara Bryan, businessstrategist, mentor, and creator
of the Infinite Scale Method.
If you're a coach, consultant, orservice provider who's maxed out
with one on one work, overwhelmed bythe grind, and ready to scale your
expertise into a business that worksfor you, then you're in the right place.

(00:23):
Each week, I'll share actionabletips, inspiring success
stories, and proven strategies.
to help you reclaim your time, grow yourincome and create a business that delivers
results without sacrificing quality.
Let's dive in and make yourbusiness infinitely scalable.
Hey, welcome to this week'sepisode of the podcast.

(00:44):
I am thrilled that youare here in this episode.
I want to talk about somethingthat is going on out there on
specifically Facebook land right now.
But in general, it is such a greatreminder of when you are building
an online business, making surethat you own the platform that

(01:05):
you are building your business on.
Have talked about thisfor years, my friends.
But now, all of a sudden,it's out there again.
In the marketplace.
So you are probably noticingthat a lot of people are starting
to pull away from Facebook.
I've had five or six or sevenpeople in my network every single
day saying, peace out, I'm out.

(01:27):
I'm not going to be apart of this anymore.
I have had business owners who Iwork with, business owners who I
follow, who are saying I'm movingmy entire community off of Facebook.
There's too many things going on right nowon Facebook, it's not serving my audience.
And it makes me giggle because I havebeen talking about this for years.

(01:48):
One, yes, there's all sortsof crazy happening, just
everywhere, but in social media.
But here's the bigger picture, whichI want everyone to just think about
is when you build your businesson someone else's platform, you
are dependent on their platform.
You are dependent on whateverit is that they decide to do.

(02:10):
They decide to close their business.
It doesn't matter.
You're done.
They decide to shift a policy orchange something, it doesn't matter.
You don't own it.
You're done.
And over and over again, this is oneof the things that I talk to my, my
clients about as they're building ondifferent platforms, is be aware that
you are renting land from a landlord.

(02:34):
Just if you were renting a house, fromsomebody, and they decided to sell
that house tomorrow, you're out, right?
Or you're at the whims ofthe new owner that comes in.
I think that one of the biggest examplesof this that's happened in the last couple
of weeks is the TikTok debacle, right?
When your whole business is dependenton someone else's platform, and it

(02:58):
goes away, so do all your sales.
So do all your customers.
So do all the things.
So I always recommend that youbuild your business on your own
foundation and then go from there.
And so specifically, if you look atbuilding or running a Facebook group,
we'll just take that as an example.

(03:18):
I was at a networking meetingyesterday and there's, I don't know,
80 some thousand people on thiswoman's Facebook group that she
uses as the primary platform for howall these women communicate, right?
Which is basically thebackend that she has.
The networking event is like an allday thing, and it's on RingCentral,

(03:40):
so it's on just a random, a Zoomplatform, and there's replays
and whatever else, but there's nomembership site, there's no back end
to her business other than Facebook.
So 80,000, 85,000 people on theFacebook group does she own all
of their details, maybe, right?

(04:00):
She maybe has them all in an email list,but she's sending them all to Facebook.
It's interesting we were having a breakoutdiscussion, and there were a bunch of us
who were like we use LinkedIn, we don'tuse Facebook for general conversations.
And we were like, ohcan we use that or not?
And they were like no, becauseyou have to be part of this group.

(04:22):
That's how you all communicate.
And that's on Facebook.
Again, super huge risk.
If Facebook changes something, thenshe's out of those 85,000 people
who are interacting and wantingto interact with each other.
All day long, my recommendationto her would be get that off of
Facebook and put it into somesort of platform that you own.

(04:45):
And that's a huge asset that she is atrisk in her business every single day.
I have another client that I work withwho has moved her entire community off
of Facebook into a different platform.
And she was talking about thecost that it takes to actually
maintain a free group on Facebook.

(05:06):
And so that's another thing, is youdon't really realize how much work
it is to not only foster that levelof group, but also to be able to
maintain the integrity of the group.
Kicking the spammers out making surethat what's in there is appropriate
and you know you don't have one personwho's derailing in the conversation
and all the different things.

(05:27):
And so again, you're at the mercy ofwho is on there and who is coming in.
And so if you haven't thought aboutthis and you have a community, one of
the things I always recommend is ownthe platform, of course, but make it a
cohesive experience for your customers.
Because the other issue that youhave, along with not owning any of

(05:51):
that real estate, is that you'refracturing the attention that your
people have in terms of how they'reconnecting, how they're participating.
And when you don't have a centralhub where everything is right there,
where people can easily log in, getall of the things that they need,
know how to communicate and talk topeople and do all the things, then

(06:13):
you're fracturing their experience.
People already have enough ofa challenge paying attention.
And so you want to make it simple andunderstandable for all of your customers.
This also includes like puttingpeople on 14 different platforms or 14
different versions of the same thing.

(06:33):
That's the other thing is and Ihave a podcast episode on this
where like you don't change yourplatforms, like you change your socks.
It's a huge, it should be a huge ordealto change because every time you make
a change, it confuses people, right?
Build the right foundation first,start to build and put people into
a curated experience that's focusedon them and what's easiest for them.

(06:55):
A lot of times I have people sayFacebook groups are great because that's
where people are already hanging out.
And I would argue that arethey what are they doing?
And I said it the other day, I'mlike, I don't want my customers
to be on my free group whilethey're in the bathroom, right?
Like we're building businesses here.
We are doing legit work to buildour businesses and build our brands.
I need people who are comingin to actually do real work

(07:20):
and have real conversations.
Not just while they're, scrolling,doing something else, coming in
and answering questions, right?
Or, posting something.
That's great, there's definitely aplace for that, but if you're building
a real business, if you're building aplace where you want people to engage
and interact and learn from each otherin this curated experience where you're

(07:44):
taking them down a path to get to atransformation, I would argue that
Facebook is never the right place.
For any group.
People argue with me all day long.
So because of these two reasons andbecause of what's going on right now in
the crazy landscape of social media, Ihighly recommend that you take a look
at what is happening with your groupsand your community in the various

(08:08):
places that you have them and make surethat you're thinking from a business
perspective, which is how do I controland own the group that I have and the
experience that they're going through.
When you are on platforms like TikTokand Facebook and Instagram and LinkedIn
and wherever else you can think about,you do not own that real estate.

(08:31):
It is a huge risk to your businessand it is a huge risk to you being
a scalable expert business ownerwho is building something that
helps people get a transformation.
So if you're interested in learning moreabout the platforms that we recommend
for you to be on, to grow your business,to grow your community, and really be

(08:54):
able to own the asset that you have,which is your vast network of customers,
then give me a shout and we'll have aconversation, because I guarantee that if
you put the right community in place withthe right intention around your curated
experience, your customers will show up.
They will show up and the quality ofyour conversations will be a lot better

(09:17):
than they will be when you're, you know,having them scroll through Facebook
mindlessly and answering or askingor engaging in various conversations.
There you go that ismy soapbox for the day.
But if you are noticing that this ishappening, there are business reasons
why this is happening and so, all Isay is, make sure that you are looking

(09:42):
at it from a business perspective.
Not a, oh it's just nicer formy customers to be on Facebook,
or it's easier, or I don't haveanother platform, or whatever else.
If you are getting started, great.
Do it that way.
That's fine.
I would argue that you should startwith the right foundation, but if that's
the easiest thing for you to do, great.
Do that.
But just recognize that you donot own that asset, and eventually

(10:06):
you are at risk to buildingsomething on someone else's land.
If you have questions on that,definitely give me a shout.
We can talk through that.
If you just want to argue withme about whether or not it should
be a Facebook group or somethingelse, just contact me too.
I love to talk through thisbecause I can show you the numbers.
I can show you the math.
I can show you all of the things aroundthe risks that you're taking when

(10:29):
you have sizable groups on Facebookgroups or your everything that you're
doing is around Facebook lives andFacebook, all the things, right?
So use it to become visible as a toolthat helps you get out into the world,
but don't use it to run your business.
Two totally different things, andsomething that, that I'm super passionate

(10:52):
about helping people understand, thatif you're using Facebook groups as
a lead generation tool, right, youare just trying to plunk them into
something so that you can nurturethem and turn them into customers.
Awesome.
Do that all day long.
But if you are using it to serve yourcustomers, that, my friends, is a huge

(11:13):
risk to your future as a business owner.
Alright, so if you like this episode,give it a like, give it a subscribe,
and until next time, have a great week.