Over the past few years I have had the chance to work with many businesses across different sectors. Some have grown strongly on Facebook, some brands have grown fast thanks to TikTok Shop, and some businesses focus almost entirely on selling through Shopee and the e-commerce marketplaces.
What is interesting is that although the business models differ a great deal, they share one concern when they look at the longer road ahead.
After two years, five years or even ten years of growth on the digital platforms, what is the business actually accumulating for itself?
This is not a question about revenue. Nor is it a question about the number of orders. It is a question about what value remains after years of investing time, budget and effort in building the business.
There is no denying that Facebook, TikTok and the e-commerce marketplaces have created unprecedented growth opportunities for business. With a single video that spreads or one effective advertising campaign, a business can reach hundreds of thousands of customers in a very short time. These platforms have also steadily improved their seller systems with many tools for management, data analysis, customer care and remarketing. Used properly, they remain channels that deliver very large business results.
So it would not be fair to argue that businesses should not invest in social media or the e-commerce marketplaces. On the contrary, these remain virtually obligatory channels in today’s business environment.
Looked at strategically, however, I think there is a more important question to be asked.
After years of growth on the platforms, is the business growing its revenue, or is it at the same time accumulating digital assets of its own?
These are two entirely different things.
Revenue reflects business results in the present. A digital asset reflects value the business can keep drawing on for years to come, however a particular platform may change.
In practice, many businesses have hundreds of thousands of followers on social media or achieve very large sales on the marketplaces. But asked what genuinely belongs to the business, the answer is sometimes not easy to give.
The business has a stall, an account, a sales history and many tools for running its operations. But all of that activity still takes place inside the platform’s ecosystem. The algorithm can change, policies can be adjusted, and the way content is distributed or customers are reached can also differ with each stage in a platform’s development.
That is not a risk large enough for a business to abandon these channels. But it is why many owners always have a feeling of not being in control. They understand that most of their business activity depends on factors they cannot fully control.
Perhaps that is why, in recent years, many businesses have begun investing in a website again. Not because a website brings more traffic than social media or the marketplaces, but because the role of the website is gradually changing.
If social media is where a business becomes known, the website is where the business builds and keeps its own digital assets.
It is where the business has full control over information about its brand, products, services, expert content, completed projects and the body of knowledge accumulated over time. It is also the foundation for connecting to CRM systems, marketing automation and customer data platforms, and it matters more and more as AI develops strongly.
When users start asking ChatGPT, Gemini or other AI tools about a business, these systems need trustworthy sources to reference and compile an answer from. The official website is therefore becoming the place where information about the business is verified, not only for customers but for AI systems too.
To my mind, this is the greatest value of a website in the period ahead. The website is no longer simply a channel for introducing the business; it is gradually becoming the official source of information, a brand asset and a data platform the business genuinely owns.
That does not mean a business should invest less in Facebook, TikTok or Shopee. Each channel has its own role in the journey of growth. Social media helps a business widen its reach, the e-commerce marketplaces help optimise conversion and meet existing demand to buy, while the website helps the business accumulate value for the long term.
Perhaps the question a business should ask today is no longer "Should we build a website or not?"
But:
"After five years of growth on the digital platforms, what does the business own apart from revenue?"
It might be a stronger brand, a more complete data system, a body of knowledge accumulated over time, or a platform that both customers and AI can trust when finding out about the business.
Because in the end, the platforms will always change to serve their own goals. The assets a business takes the initiative to build and own are what form the foundation for growing sustainably over the long term.
