Earlier this week, some Instagram users got a rude awakening when, upon trying to log in, they discovered an outage or – far worse – a suspended account. While the latter seems to be the result of the former, individuals and businesses who use Instagram exclusively to communicate, market, and sell to their clients were suddenly left in the dark, stuck contacting a customer support line to try and recover their business. If you were one of these or simply now see the risks of running your business exclusively on one platform, learn the measures and contingencies you should take so that when Instagram is down, your business isn’t.
Don’t Let a Third Party Monopolize Your Business
To one extent or another, we all rely on third-party apps, hosts, and platforms to connect our business to customers. The trick is never to put all your eggs in one basket – always have another online platform handy so customers can contact you and you can contact them, ideally continuing to market and sell to them even when one is down. This was true when Facebook went down last year, and it’s true today – let’s talk about your options when it comes to avoiding this “one basket” scenario.
Ways to Diversify Your Online Presence for Outages
It’s okay to have a primary third-party platform you love to use to sell and market to your clients, but as recent events show, it can be dangerous or even disastrous only to have one platform for your online presence. Below are ways to improve your online presence – some of which might already exist even if you’re not actively managing it.
Your Business Needs a Website
If you have a small business or are an entrepreneur, it’s easy to see a website as just a drain of resources – but you’re also missing the biggest perk: you own your website. You get to decide how it looks and what it shows, and you aren’t beholden to the whims of a third party. If you currently have a website, discover how it might need to evolve to meet your needs and grow with your marketing.
Building a Backup Social Media Account
If you find social media to be the most effective way of communicating with your customers, think about building up a backup social media account where your clients can still contact you when your primary one is down. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and TikTok – pick at least one alternate account, set it up, and notify your followers to connect with you there as well. Learn more about getting started.
Investing in Email Marketing for Communication
If you’re already collecting emails as part of sales or marketing, investing in email marketing infrastructure can be powerful. Whether you want to quickly notify customers with an e-blast when things change or a regular email marketing newsletter, start by knowing how to make emails customers want to read and where they should point to.
Managing Your Online Reputation
You might be surprised to know your company is already on other platforms: Google, Yelp, the Better Business Bureau (BBB), and other reputation & review sites might already have a listing for you. Learn how to take control of your online presence to not only manage online reviews, but also customize their content to point people toward your marketing, sales, and contact information.
Instagram going down is a reminder to all of us that our online presence, marketing, and sales need to be unified with marketing plans that can pivot during a crisis. Need a hand? Contact Vision. We’re a marketing agency versed in both building up marketing and planning contingencies and business strategy and coaching to make sure you have all the tools and support needed in a worst-case scenario. We’re also on Instagram, assuming that’s up for you right now.
