Navigating Social Media Outages for Small Businesses

Small businesses often rely heavily on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram for advertising, client communication, and direct sales. However, outages can disrupt these activities significantly. The recent Meta platform outages serve as a reminder for businesses to diversify their online presence and not depend solely on one platform.

Experts advise having contingency plans, such as maintaining an email database, to mitigate the impact of such outages. This approach ensures that businesses have alternative communication channels with their customers.

Business owners like Cheyenne Smith, founder of an e-commerce company, and Laura Levitan, a photographer in Addison, TX, experienced a halt in sales and lost valuable time during the outages. Despite this, they recognize the importance of platforms like Meta for their sales and intend to continue using them while also building their offsite communications. Experts suggest using the outage as an opportunity to encourage customers to provide their contact information, like cell phone number and email addresses. This strategy helps businesses maintain communication with customers outside of social media.

The article, originally published by AP News, highlights the vulnerability of small businesses to social media outages and the importance of having a robust, multi-channel communication strategy to ensure continuity and resilience. To get more of the story, read the original article.