So, you think it’s OK to have your entire internet presence in one basket?

Facebook recently shut down the page of a real estate business with 47,000+ fans. And they gave no notice to the owner, Jonathan Rivera. Jon started The Official Real Estate Referral Group two years ago. It was one of the largest real estate fan pages on Facebook. The page’s intention was to provide a network of aspiring real estate agents that wanted to grow their businesses with referrals and by using social media (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc). Jon had created many opportunities for agents and put a lot of time, effort and resources into his growing page.

The problem with the page was with the vanity URL that Jon chose when he set up his fan page. After you have 25 fans, the owner of the page is allowed to choose a custom URL. It helps people remember how to get there. Well, Jon chose socialrealtors. Realtor is a trademarked word. The National Association of Realtors tried to get Jon and Facebook to change the URL. After several good faith attempts to have the name changed, Facebook took down the page with no notice. Whoah!!!!!!!!

This is an excellent and recent example that demonstrates that Facebook has complete control over their content. You might have built it, but they own it. I’m sure you read that in the user agreement when you signed up, RIGHT????

So, since this can happen to anyone, how can you protect prepare yourself for such an event?

Today’s Lesson:

Whether you have 75, 300, 1500 or 9,000 Facebook fans, there’s gold in that list!
Did you know you can install an email sign up box on your Facebook page?
Once you have your fans names and email addresses, you can email them when you want and about any topic you want.
You can use your list to drive traffic to another social media outlet you use, or YOUR website.
Then, if your Facebook page disappears one day, you’ll still have YOUR list and the ability to communicate with them.

If you currently don’t have an email marketing program, or if the idea of integrating an email marketing program with your Facebook fan page is new to you, let us know how we can help maintain the relationships you have with YOUR fans.