Beginners guides to websites and hosting services for Businesses, Charities & personal use in the North East of England

Social media networking is a fabulous tool for customer engagement, referrals, & for increasing exposure to your target audience.

Even the smallest of businesses can use social media to great effect; as a “free” platform to get a company name out there & being seen.
+ If you produce content that's funny &/or "gives something back" to viewers then there's always the chance of your post "Going Viral."

BUT it only works if you are prepared to work exclusively within the limitations, restrictions, & rules of the platforms concerned.

Platforms that promote "paid for advertising" above or even during your content and posts, even on "your own" page / channel.

Platforms that appeal to narrow niche demographics of the population, & that some people won't engage with at all.

Platforms that exists because they are making money FROM you & your data, + FROM every other user on there.

Steve 'HellRaiser' Ibbotson, a respected professional fighter, & the owner of S.I.K.A.

(Steve Ibbotson Kickboxing Accademy) & gym at Shiremoor has seen his businesses social media account suffer a brutal "knock down" at the hands of Facebook.

With a fight coming up, Steve was regularly posting updates on his training, and promoting the event amongst his fans online. However when he posted asking if anyone was interested in joining him for "Sparing" practice, Facebook dealt him a low blow. One that affected both his fight promotion activities & also his business model, & "left him reeling".

New algorithms had mistakenly interpreted Steve's genuine request for people to spar with him as :- "aggressive & bullying behaviour" leading to an automatic "standing count" by virtue of a ban, hiding his content from his fans, & imposing restrictions for 30 days.

Facebook unfortunately acts as both the Referee & all the ringside Judges at once, and offers it's users very little in terms of a right to appeal.
We look forward to helping Steve with a simple "user maintainable" website, incorporating a Blog page for his content, thereby ensuring he can't be "Knocked Out" of the online space ever again.

If "they" suspended your account, or shut it down, removed your posts, & made you effectively disappear from view …..

Sometimes you don’t even know that you've been affected till it's too late, ever heard of a “shadow ban”?

This is where a platform such as YT decides it doesn’t want to show your content to people because of any number of “their own reasons”.

Some sites can also own your data & content, and use it or sell it on at will. You did read all of those T&C’s when you signed-up didn’t you?
 

TLDR; As a small business or content creator, social media is a great tool, but it shouldn't be the only one in your box.
 
Why wouldn't you want to take control, with your own website?       After all, it's your company, your content, your customers - not theirs!