Why build your own community?

There are some obvious reasons for not relying on Facebook for your online community, but we’re also going to come up with some reasons why you shouldn’t just move to yet another hosted platform, like Skool or Circle.

Note: even if you get us (fairly marvellous) to build your community for you – it’s your own – just because it’s sat on our server doesn’t mean you cannot take it elsewhere.

Why you shouldn’t use Facebook for your business’s online community

It’s your business – it should be on your property.

You will always be at the mercy of Facebook’s whims:

If they want to promote a competitor next to your content, they will, and do.
They can add, and take away, features at any time. Lots of people were using the group Messenger chat functionality until Facebook decided they no longer wanted to offer it.
If they decide they don’t like your group (perhaps someone decides to start reporting it) then they will just close it.
How many times have you seen the post “my Facebook got hacked” or “I lost my Page” appear? Don’t let that be your group.

There are also some more personal reasons:

Not everyone has, or wants, a Facebook account – don’t cut out part of your audience.
Some topics suit a degree of anonymity – your clients may want others to only see their first name, or an initial.
Facebook is full of distractions – if you want your clients (or yourself!) to focus, you want them surrounded by your content, not bombarded with lots of other eye candy.
Do you, or your clients, want to be getting Friend requests from each other? What if your politics or weekend habits do not quite align?

Why you shouldn’t just use another third-party platform

One thing Facebook has done is highlight the opportunities that having an online group can offer. So plenty of alternatives have sprung up for many of the reasons above.

From the Facebook-like Skool and Circle, to the broader Kartra, Thinkific, Teachable, or (Go) High Level, most of the issues are avoided, especially at the higher price points.

But some still apply, and some new ones creep in:

Features can change or disappear at any time – you’re at the mercy of the direction they want to go.
Cost increases can be sudden or unreasonable.
You’re limited to the features they decide are important – if you need a particular function then you’re stuck.
They hold you hostage – want to leave? It will be difficult or impossible to take everything with you, you’ll be starting again.
You’ve still got to do all the setting up, unless you pay even more to get an expert in to help.

So it’s all rosy having your own platform?

There are lots of advantages, especially with the tools we recommend, but it wouldn’t be fair to claim it’s all easy.

Pros

It’s yours. You can change host, download your data, whatever, whenever you want.
Need a new feature? There’s a plugin for that.
There’s no overwhelm and bloat – if you don’t want a feature, don’t install it!
Your website, funnels, mailing, sales, courses, and community – all in one place.
You set the rules, you’re in control.
The tools we pick have a huge community of users and experts, all helping each other out (at the time of writing, 43% of all websites on the internet are powered by WordPress, and there are over 7,000 active installs of FluentCommunity).

Cons

If you’re doing it all yourself, it’s technical!
With lots of pieces to the puzzle, it can sometimes feel confusing.
You’ve got to think of annoying things like updates, backups, and security
While lots of the tools have free versions, the best features usually need paying for. These costs can add up.

Which is why we recommend (well, we would) engaging with us – fairly marvellous – to build, host, support, and manage your online business. Starting at just £80 per month, it’s the sensible option. If you want to talk more, contact us now.