From time to time, Instagram/Facebook/The Metaverse goes down. It’s happening at the time of this blog post going live. And while it typically sorts itself out within a couple of hours, it can still cause panic. “What if I can’t post today?” “How am I going to reach my potential clients?” “What does this mean for my business?”
Even as someone who built her business primarily on Instagram, I don’t panic when there’s an outage. For one, it’s like a social media manager’s snow day! But the main reason I’m able to stay calm is I know there are SO many ways to continue moving your business forward, without IG, that I turn to one of these other activities ⬇️
Stop Putting Your Eggs All in One Basket + Expand To Other Marketing Channels
You’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it a million times: you cannot put all your eggs in one basket. Depending solely on Instagram to be your only source of awareness and leads is a recipe for disaster. Not to be fear-mongering (I’m not into that), but even if the issue isn’t an outage, what if you get hacked? Or lose access some other way? Putting too much energy into Instagram, at the expense of diversifying your marketing plan, will come back to bite you in the butt.
Two of my favorite additions to a strong Instagram presence? Pinterest (especially for interior designers!) and email marketing. Pinterest operates as more of a search engine than a social media platform, and is (dare I say) even better than Instagram at driving traffic to your website. Email marketing is a great tool to add to your toolbox because it’s one of the few platforms you can own versus renting space like you do on social media.
Now, I’m not saying you have to go out and go full force on every single channel. That is a recipe for burnout. But with the extra time you have while Instagram is down, explore adding one or two secondary channels so you aren’t left flailing in the wind during the next outage.
(And P.S. We can help you do that! ABC Social Media Management walks the walk and offers Pinterest and email marketing services, as well as other social media platforms by request. Book a free consult call to learn more!)
If Instagram Is Down, Go Right To The People
And pitch, that is! I am not a cold pitching girlie – no ma’am (I actually just deleted like ten of them from my inbox lol). But when you pitch the right way (and this free pitch challenge from one of my mentors is a 🔥 resource to get you started), you can get in front of potential clients much faster and open the door for a conversation.
Update Your Website + SEO
Your social media channels may be your digital storefront, but your website is where the conversions really happen. Once you send people to your website
So if you haven’t brushed off the cobwebs in a while, consider taking some time to update your portfolio photos and make sure your services are all accurately described on your site.
This is also a great opportunity to work on your search engine optimization and improve your chances of potential clients finding you just from a google search!
Get Offline
Marketing isn’t just done online! There are tons of offline ways to market your business, from going to in-person events, speaking on panels, advertising in local media… Obviously you may not be able to activate these things today, in the short time that Instagram is down, but take some time to research and identify a networking opportunity or two that you would like to go to this year.
Take This Time to Work ON Your Business
ESPECIALLY if you’re a social media manager – these couple of hours is kinda like our version of a snow day! Take advantage of having a forced break from social and work on your content plan, review your finances + forecasting, develop another revenue stream – or anything that’s been on your to-do list for a while that you’ve been putting off.
Or Just Have a Break
You can use this time to be productive and work on expanding your marketing or strategizing in your business. or you could lie on the couch and catch up on The Batchelor. Both are valid. Don’t let the emails pouring into your inbox (yes, even mine) make you feel pressured to do something today or your business will crumble. It won’t, promise.
P.S. Want to Stay in Touch Even When Instagram Is Down?
My weekly newsletter is the best way to hear from me – you get 3 content ideas, 2 trending audios and 1 resource every Tuesday! And you can always binge the blog.
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