What to do when social media stops working

Be honest – how many times did you try to login to Facebook or Instagram today?

Today was a cruel reality check. I tried logging in… too many times to count. Often without even thinking.

You too? Phew. Glad I’m not the only one.

From a consumer perspective, today was pretty annoying. How else are you supposed to get your daily does of memes, gifs, and infuriating political commentary?

bored the big lebowski GIF

Heaven forbid we actually get work done today…

Here’s a hilarious video to distract you… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nHnQQhWQVA

Let’s look at the social media outage from a business perspective…

This is a disaster.

Many businesses rely entirely on social media. Small businesses are especially vulnerable on days like today. Does your business have an email list? A website? A blog? Or are you JUST on social media?

Does your business have a digital marketing strategy? Or just… a few online pieces sort of thrown together?

Find a balance

Social media seems to be a polarizing topic among businesses. Often social media is seen as everything or nothing when it comes to marketing.

The truth? It’s sort of in the middle…

Here’s the harsh reality (from my perspective): Social media CANNOT be your only online space. If your business thrives on a Facebook group and only a Facebook group, what happens when Facebook goes down the day you had a big FB live scheduled?

panic omg GIF

On the flip side… While businesses absolutely can grow without social media, the growth is often more expensive, less efficient, and takes much longer.

Social media allows you to have a relationship with your customers. It also allows you to have a greater reach for your customer base.

But remember there are other digital marketing avenues that are just as important. Having a blog, a website, and especially an email list are critical. And these things are all ASSETS of your business.

Are you listening?

You don’t control social media. You may feel like you do, but you don’t. Facebook is a company just like you, and has the opportunity to shut everything you’re doing down if they feel like it. (Of course they should have good cause, but everything can be justified…)

But YOU own your email list. YOU own your website (if you do it right).

So here’s my plea on this FB/Insta-Outage Day: Make social media part of your digital strategy, but please please don’t let it be the only part of your digital strategy. Use social media as a place to listen and a place to foster relationships. Use social media as a place to generate leads. Don’t look at social media as your only online presence.

You’ll survive the outage days much better.

A badge for you. You did it.

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