Will your data be lost if a social media platform goes “kaput”?
Of course it would!
It would *poof* disappear into the nebulous pit of digital space, irretrievably lost.
I’ve been teaching this concept for close to a decade, reiterating it inside of articles, talks, and video snippets. the fact that “you need to stake claim to your own prime digital real estate – your website” is becoming more important than ever.
It’s quite simple to understand why: you want to save your “juicy stuff”.
If you’re creating “intellectual property” – really smart, quirky, witty (insert any other complimentary adjective here to describe how freakin cool your are) stuff – which you’re doing regularly anyway, when you banter on today’s social media’s platforms, you want that ‘juiciness’ saved!!
Even if it seems fairly obvious to you, and to my other colleagues who are reading this, no one seems to be moving on it. I keep seeing my colleagues waste their IP – intellectual property – on others’ space!
In all fairness, it wasn’t necessarily super clear to me, either when I began. And it absolutely takes a bit more work. But there are so many incredible ways to recycle your content, and save on time (a skill that’s SO underrated in today’s professional world).
This whole “data lost” concept was brought up the other day by SoMeDocs member George Matthew, MD, who had this to share on LinkedIn:
This is exactly how we should be framing these social media platforms – as possibly transient information highways which can, at any point, disappear.
No one should be “wasting their content” and only dropping it into one space. They should be leveraging every social media platform they can, in recyclable form. And have one centralized space that holds their main content. (Please check out my talk on this: “Why Doctors Should Have A Website & How They Can Market At A Low Cost“)
People! Social platforms should be used as billboards. NOT as space in which you live!
There, content is TRANSIENT. It comes and then it, just as quickly, goes.
People! Social platforms should be used as billboards. NOT as space in which you live! There, content is TRANSIENT. It comes and then it, just as quickly, goes. Click To Tweet
Also, these spaces are always owned – and controlled by – others.
So respect the space, and use it wisely, but don’t be married to it! Write out your thoughts in one prime space – your own. And then recycle bits and pieces out into social media world.
Use snippets of your content as billboards in the social media highways, and always draw attention back to your own space. It is there that you will be able to convert your followers’ attention into actionable steps. Create conversions there, you will – as the great Yoda would say, if he were a part of the world today.
Use snippets of your content as billboards in the social media highways, and always draw attention back to your own space. Click To Tweet
If this isn’t crystal clear, please come to one of my lectures and ask. If it IS clear, please circulate this so others learn too (and we can save everyone’s IP, and refer back to it, in their own spaces). It’s THAT important.
This isn’t just about Twitter. It’s also about Facebook, and Instagram, and even LinkedIn. It’s about every single space you use that someone else is in charge of.
Understand your role. Once you get how it all works, you can productively build.
(And don’t forget to check out my lecture on this, called Why Doctors Should Have A Website & How They Can Market At A Low Cost, inside our LECTURES & EVENTS section!
