Businesses that rely on social media platforms for advertising, client communication, or direct sales felt the impact of Tuesday’s Meta platforms outage more than just a minor inconvenience. Experts emphasize the importance of having contingency plans in place for such situations, like maintaining an email database.
Cheyenne Smith, founder of Dakota Ridge, an e-commerce company in Salt Lake City, Utah, shared how the outage affected her sales on Meta’s platforms, particularly Instagram. While she couldn’t quantify the exact loss in sales, she noted a complete halt in sales to her e-commerce site during the outage. Despite this setback, she remains committed to using Meta’s platforms due to their effectiveness in driving sales compared to other social media sites.
Small business consultant Ramon Ray highlighted the need for businesses to diversify their communication channels and customer databases beyond relying on a single platform. He suggested using outages as an opportunity to collect customer email addresses for alternative communication methods.
Laura Levitan, owner of Mod L Photography in Addison, Texas, experienced disruptions in her client correspondence on Facebook and Instagram during the outage. Despite the challenges, she leveraged her email list and website to maintain communication with clients and plans to continue strengthening these offsite communication channels.
David Lewis, CEO of HR firm Operations, Inc., emphasized the inevitability of internet outages in today’s business landscape and advised small businesses to adapt and appreciate the relatively infrequent nature of such disruptions. As businesses navigate the digital realm, having backup plans and diversified communication strategies becomes increasingly crucial.