Horror upon horrors, last night as you will be aware, Facebook, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp all went down. I mean seriously could life get any worse (said in true Friend's style!!)
So let's talk contingency plans!
In business we don't have the luxury of stepping back a little and still knowing we have an income stream, it just doesn't happen when you are a small or new business.
When I moved into my mums I obviously took my computer with me and bit by bit I've been bringing over the rest of my "stuff" (whilst in complete denial that I've had to actually move out for a while). I had to accept that the world won't stop turning if I don't complete my courses ready for launch in October and I need to turn my focus on what I can control.
I can still do discovery calls, I can still work, I can still do design days and obviously I was booked out with the project work too. So deep breaths at least I can maintain some income if not as much as normal.
What I've learnt over the past 22 years of being in business is that things don't go to plan and when that happens we always need a Plan B! For me Plan B involves looking at what I CAN do, not what I can't - what I can't do will have to wait until it's possible to do it and that is that.
Now let's look at contingency plans for your business in relation to social media going down!
Last night, shock horror social media went down for 7 hours (was it really *only* 7 hours it felt like the world stopped) and despite Mr Z's rather blasé statement about "staying connected with people you care about", for so many businesses who have built their business on his social media platforms and rely on it to put food on their tables that statement is woefully inaccurate and pathetic.
I'm always being asked "I have a great and loyal Facebook (or Instagram) following do I *really* need a website?
I always answer with a question! If FB or IG go down will you still be able to connect with your followers? If they go down or get shut down (who knows what could happen) then do you have your Plan B? Do you have access to your followers outside of these social media platforms? If not you need to look at how to connect with them.
I've known people grow massive Facebook pages or groups and have tens of thousands of Instagram followers and in the blink of an eye for often no reason at all Facebook closes their account and once that happens it is a long and slow and very painful process to get your accounts back (have you ever tried to make contact with someone in those organisations??).
What happens when they change their algorithm? Suddenly your followers no longer see your lives, or hear from you, and there's nothing you can do about it - look how many businesses spent tens of thousands of pounds on building their Facebook page followers and then suddenly page followers don't matter a jot because they only show page posts to 4% of page followers and you have to pay for yet more advertising to reach the people that you had spent money on building the following in the first place. We are forever at their mercy. Build a page, no build a group, go live now do stupid dances and make yourself look like an idiot to get shown ... whatever next?!?!
On a very basic level look at getting some email software and building your email list and keeping in touch with "your people" that way, some software to look at could include Mailerlite, Active Campaign, ConvertKit, AWebber, etc.
Or you have a website, which includes a blog, freebies (lead-magnets), all connected to building your email list, connecting with your people and having your contacts outside of someone else's control.
If you have a WhatsApp group and use that as your main way of communicating with your people, maybe copy the list over into Telegram or one of the other messenger types not connected to the Facebook group.
Finally, don't keep all your eggs in Mr Zuckerberg's basket! I'm a big advocate of using two forms of social media, for me currently I use Pinterest and Instagram, if one or other goes down I have a "back up" place to post where they're not connected. It may be that you use Facebook and LinkedIn or Instagram and TikTok by using different platforms if there's an outage again then at least you have your Plan B in place.
Do you need help figuring out your Plan B?
If so get in touch, firstly jump we can jump on a free 20 minute discovery call and discuss through your options, whether that is a Designed in a Day website or setting you up with an email software, or just looking over your social media. If we need to go into more depth then I offer Power Hours, a Half Day "design" or a Full Day (and by design it can mean almost anything from business strategy, through to social media strategy, email list building, freebie (lead-magnet) design and development, or website design.
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