{"id":43429,"date":"2021-10-08T12:29:03","date_gmt":"2021-10-08T10:29:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sotrender.com\/blog\/?p=43429\/"},"modified":"2022-07-12T10:58:09","modified_gmt":"2022-07-12T08:58:09","slug":"facebook-down-prepare-next-facebook-unavailability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sotrender.com\/blog\/2021\/10\/facebook-down-prepare-next-facebook-unavailability\/","title":{"rendered":"Facebook is down? How marketers can prepare for the next Facebook unavailability"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Monday, October 4th, we all experienced Facebook-owned social channels being unavailable. It made the majority of social media users feel insecure, but the situation impacted people working in the marketing industry even more.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I guess we\u2019ve all stopped then for a while and thought \u201cAren\u2019t we relying on Facebook, or other social media channels, too much?\u201d<\/strong> Using social media for marketing purposes is relatively easy and accessible for almost everyone and everywhere, but there are obviously some drawbacks of this \u201cfree\u201d solution.<\/span><\/p>\n

Could we prevent such a situation in terms of it having less impact on our marketing activities and results?<\/strong> What can be done as for now? We\u2019ve decided it\u2019s definitely worth digging into these topics more.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What was the actual impact of #facebookdown on marketing campaigns\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The situation made us, marketers, quite insecure: we didn\u2019t know how much Facebook\u2019s ecosystem unavailability would last and how big of an impact it would have on active campaigns. <\/strong>It was also not possible to get access to performance data in Business Manager, while at the beginning of the month many marketers needed to create monthly reports.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Even though Facebook was unavailable for approximately 6 hours (only?), we\u2019ve been experiencing issues with using Facebook or Instagram for at least 2-3 days longer.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

It was especially visible on Instagram, where Instagram Stories are the key format right now; they were displayed as if they were blank. Obviously, it affected all accounts, including influencers\u2019 and brands\u2019 profiles. Sometimes Instagram Stories (as well as regular posts) didn\u2019t even appear to users at all. Even if they did, it often didn\u2019t make sense to watch them, as half of them were empty.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

No wonder that<\/span> the situation significantly impacted the reach of the majority of Instagram and Facebook profiles<\/b>, as presented in the example below.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"decreased

An example of a brand\u2019s profile on Instagram which suffered from decreased reach on October 4th-5th , data from the Sotrender<\/a> app<\/p><\/div>\n

How to prepare for a Facebook outage (or any other social media platform)<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Can we prepare for the next Facebook outage and make our marketing activities less dependent on Facebook?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Yes, there are things that marketers and brands can start doing now to make their future campaigns and online presence more secure.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

#1 Invest in channels that are not Facebook-dependent<\/strong><\/h3>\n

This week\u2019s crash impacted all Facebook services, meaning Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp. Obviously, not all social media channels belong to the Facebook ecosystem, so it\u2019s definitely a good move to run at least one that simply isn\u2019t owned by the giant from Menlo Park.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The range of choice is quite large, just to mention YouTube, Twitter, <\/span>TikTok<\/span><\/a> (which is the most downloaded application in the US at the moment), LinkedIn or Pinterest among the most popular ones.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, you shouldn\u2019t just choose a random one, or the one that is the most popular at the moment. Consider only those that you\u2019re sure your target audience (primary or secondary) is using.<\/strong> It\u2019s important also to remember that it\u2019s not just about creating an account for it to have an impact – the communication there has to be run regularly. Managing several social channels, though, may not necessarily be a solution for smaller brands that often lack knowledge or sources for having additional channels.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The sad truth is, once Facebook or Instagram will be down again, users will be most probably still stuck to their smartphones. As we\u2019re used to scrolling continuously and staring at our screens, chances are high that during the next such situation, we won\u2019t be willing to leave our comfort, aka smartphone, zone.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A great example was what was happening on the official Twitter account on Twitter. These guys definitely took advantage of the Facebook ecosystem being down.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Just take a look at the impressive engagement one of Twitter\u2019s tweets had on October 4th.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"twitter

Twitter taking advantage of Facebook being down<\/p><\/div>\n

Signal, the messaging app, also noted not only increased engagement on their Twitter account, but also increase in the usage of the app itself.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"signal

Signal app welcoming all new users<\/p><\/div>\n

As they stated in one of their tweets, millions of new users started using Signal on Monday, October 4th, which caused some bugs due to this unexpected increase in the usage and interest in the app.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

#2 Diversify your key communication channels<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Brands should definitely go beyond running communication only on social media. Nowadays investing in media that your brand fully owns is a necessity<\/strong> – and this week\u2019s crash is the best proof of that.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What are these channels?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Having your own website is quite obvious, but to be able to reach customers more directly, you should invest also in, for example, email marketing or SMS marketing<\/a> (meaning also your own databases).<\/span><\/p>\n

These channels are not dead, and noted an increase in usage during the Facebook crash.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As we can read in <\/span>Mobile Marketing Magazine<\/span><\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n

Three UK<\/span> [telecommunication company] <\/span>saw its largest volume of non-New Year\u2019s Eve\/Christmas traffic in more than 10 years, while there were six times as many MMS messages sent on its network compared to an average Monday.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We read <\/span>further<\/span><\/a> that:<\/span><\/p>\n

In fact, between 8 and 9pm we carried more SMS [messages] than the last three New Year\u2019s Eves \u2013 traditionally the busiest time for text.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The importance of such diversification was greatly <\/span>summarized<\/span><\/a> by Radek Zaleski from Netguru:<\/span><\/p>\n

That’s why it’s so important to diversify channels and develop your own ones, incl. websites, web and mobile apps, podcasts, newsletters, etc.
\n<\/span>You’ll always be dependent on 3rd party solutions, but developing your own infrastructure = minimizing their negative impact when things go bad.
\n<\/span>Not to mention all the pros of having your own backup & disaster recovery plan.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

How can you secure the constant growth of those additional channels?<\/strong><\/h3>\n