Facebook is down! I can’t upload Instagram stories! Why can’t I see my Facebook messages?
All thoughts that I, along with many of you have had today. As you likely know by now, both Facebook and Instagram have been down for a good portion of the day. While I have had some time to detox from social media, it led me to think about what lessons we as entrepreneurs can take away from today’s outage. There are MANY of them, but below are a few key takeaways from the outage. Trust me, these are important and things to prepare for now. As you know, the online world is an ever changing place and nothing stays the same for very long.
Key Takeaways From Today’s Facebook & Instagram Outage
- You NEED a Website. Now. Right. Now. If you already have a website, you still need to read this point. A website is the only thing that you really own. We don’t own Facebook or Instagram and therefore – they can go away at anytime. As we know by now, the algorithms change constantly, making it more and more difficult for businesses to gain traction without an in-depth strategy. By having your own website, you not only own your content, but you also have a place for all of your clients and sales to land. If you are relying on Facebook for sales or messenger to communicate with clients. Stop it. Right now. Your website doesn’t have to be complicated or bankrupt you (we offer website set up!), but it is something you MUST have! If you already have a website, make sure that it’s updated, secured, backed up and maintained properly. An unsafe website can leave you crippled with hours, days and months of lost content.
- If You Aren’t On Pinterest, You Need To Be! Of course, we know that Pinterest goes down sometimes, as well. However, Pinterest traffic is much more reliable than social media traffic. Pinterest is a search engine, and just like Google…if used properly, can drive a ton of traffic (and sales) to your site! By broadening your horizons and putting focus on Pinterest, you are adding more “search juice” (I know…that’s not a proper term, but you get the point) to your site. When Facebook & Instagram go down for a day, two or more, you will still see traffic from Pinterest! Another place you need to be? LinkedIn.
- Your Site Needs To Be Optimized For Search Engines. I know, again with the website. However, I cannot say this enough. Optimizing your site for search engines is highly important. The likely hood of social media platforms falling by the wayside is much more probable than the likely hood of search engines going away. By focusing on putting out high quality, search engine optimized content – you are investing in a long term strategy for your business.
- We All Need to Unplug From Time to Time. Honestly, I spend way too much time on social media. It’s my job. I love what I do, so I tend to spend a ton of time researching algorithms, trends, etc. to ensure that my clients’ accounts are ahead of the game with what is just around the corner for social media. That being said, today’s outage forced me to step away from the computer & phone for a bit. Guess what? I survived! I feel recharged and ready to get back to work. We all need to unplug from time to time, and it shouldn’t take a social media outage to make that happen.
- You NEED a Mailing List and you NEED to Nurture It! Again, something else that you own. You own your mailing list. Nurture that list. Stay in contact with the people on your list. Let them know how they can contact you outside of social media (because…outages).
When all is said and done, we are all trying to grow and nurture our businesses. Social media is a great way to do just that. However, I am a firm believer in making sure that you are ahead of the game and that you have a plan for when the tides change.
