Where were you when Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and their subsidiaries went down on March 13, 2019?
I was sitting at my desk trying to upload my morning Instagram post and stories. As my frustration gradually grew, I turned to Facebook to find I was locked out of my account there too. That’s when the panic set in. Did someone hack my accounts?! Luckily, they didn’t and it was a much larger issue than just my few accounts. (Bright side: My LinkedIn engagement yesterday was fantastic!)
The issue was widespread and continued for up to 12 hours for some users which led me to wonder how much money Facebook was losing from advertisers, and how many sales were being lost by small businesses during the blackout. I quickly hopped online and developed some quick strategies for my clients so they wouldn’t see a huge loss from their accounts.
Keep reading to see my key learnings from not having access to the two largest social media networks.
IS YOUR DIGITAL MARKETING PLAN ONLY INCLUDING SOCIAL MEDIA?
If it is, then the biggest takeaway from yesterday for you should be that you absolutely cannot rely solely on your social channels. A website, blog, email marketing strategy, and having a network-diverse social strategy should all be part of your digital marketing mix.
One thing that stood out to me yesterday was how quickly I turned to Snapchat, Twitter, and Linkedin to fill the void of not having Instagram and Facebook access. As a business, your customers and target audience did the SAME THING. If you don’t already have an engaged following built up on Twitter or another network - now is the perfect time to get started. Snapchat use (and their stock prices) jumped over 12% yesterday.
Do you backup your content?
Do you keep previous content calendars and images or artwork saved somewhere? I am a huge advocate of using an organized cloud-based drive, such as Google Drive, so you never lose your work. Other options are to save the previous month’s content to iCloud storage (which is now down today - ugh), Dropbox, or Microsoft One Drive.
Do you keep in touch with your email list?
I am on a LOT of different companies email lists through my various email addresses. I am one of those people that loves to receive a store’s sales, company newsletters, and other ‘keep in touch’ communications. Yesterday took me by surprise by how many people didn’t use email marketing when the networks went down.
For my clients, I put together a quick “Here’s what we wanted to share with you on Instagram today” e-blast and the open rates were well above average. Email isn’t dead, people!
It’s time to diversify and have a strategic digital marketing plan. Contact us for a free 30-minute consultation of your existing website and digital strategy.