Do you still remember MySpace? Or Friendster? They were the King of Social Media before Facebook.

Instagram was bought over by Facebook. Would Facebook still keep Instagram's name after 10 years? And do you think Facebook will be with us forever?

You might have 10,000 posts and one million followers on Friendster last time. When it's gone, there goes all your posts and followers.

That's why we call all these social media platforms "Rented Land". When it's gone, everything goes with it.

Your Website is Your Home

That is why your should make your website your home. Your own the domain name You own all the contents in your website. You have full control over the layout and what goes in there. Everything in there stays with you forever as long as you maintain your domain name and the server/host where your website resides.

What this means is that, if you have written a good piece of article, don't just post it in Facebook. Instead, put the article in your home i.e. your website. Then make a post in Facebook to say you have written an interesting piece of article and include a link to the article. Do the same for Twitter, LinkedIn and any other social media platforms you are using.

The Integrated Approach to Content Maketing

The integrated approach is as depicted in the following diagram.

1. Your website is your home. This is where you place and store all your precious contents - articles, photos, videos, ebooks, case studies, etc.
2. All the social media platforms - Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. - are rented land. Take Twitter for example, you make a 140-character tweet about your new article. In the tweet, you include a link to the original article residing on your website.

Using this approach, you will see that what the social media platforms are doing is essentially extending your reach and driving traffic to your website. Even if they are gone one day, all the contents still reside on your website.

Over To You...

• Are you currently betting too much on rented land?
• Do you have any content that resides only on Facebook but not on your website?
• Do you currently own a website, with your own domain name and with full control over the entire website?