Most of us have checked our phones (or desktops for the web users) several times today to see if Facebook, or Instagram, had come back online after going down earlier in the day. (No – just me?) Facebook reported server errors, but in an even rarer event, it affected three major apps simultaneously: Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Many took to other social platforms to verify that the platform was down, or to air their grievances. Twitter used the opportunity to roast Facebook. Besides making most of us keenly aware of our habit, it brought up a perfect example of why it is important to diversify your presence on digital platforms.
WHY DIVERSIFY
- Staying diversified prevents platform dependency. This isn’t the first time – or the last time – Facebook and it’s partnering apps have crashed. If you rely solely on Facebook for your business, the all-eggs-one-basket strategy probably feels a little fragile today. There is no one-size-fits-all strategy, so it’s important to be on multiple channels, have a website, paid ads, email marketing, video marketing, blog posts, etc.
- Different audiences are on different channels. In our office, two of the ten employees are not on Facebook; one relies solely on Reddit and the other Twitter. Expanding to other platforms helps reach wider audiences.
- Data, Data, Data – some love it, some hate it. Whatever side of the fence you’re on, having more data can help inform future business decisions.
- The SEO benefits, especially for small businesses, are tremendous. Being present on well-ranked platforms like YouTube or Pinterest is an easy way to leverage the high visibility of those platforms to make YOUR content highly visible.
WHAT PLATFORMS?
The number of times we hear, “should we be on TikTok?” increases continually. The obvious platforms are easy to nail down, but the right alternative platforms are likely to be specific to your business. Having a presence on more than one channel allows for more opportunities to spread messaging and facilitates audience growth.
If you’d like to talk through your platform strategy, digital strategy, or your frustrations with Facebook, we’re here. Give us a call or email us.