Instagram and Facebook were down today… and I remember the last! A world-wide failure meant people couldn’t get into their accounts, verification emails/texts weren’t sent, and more today.  

And, if you are a service provider that relies on your social media to book and communicate with your clients, it meant you couldn’t confirm or make any bookings, or find their information, accounts, messages, or even their existence during the blackout.

If you are service provider who relies on social media for bookings, did you panic? Were you worried you wouldn’t be able to communicate with or book your clients?

This social media blackout only lasted a little while.. this time. What if it happens again, and for a longer period of time? And what if all of your (their) page data, including followers/following, posts, messages etc are all.. erased?

If this happens, and you do not have a marketing system that you own and are control of, you run the risk of losing all of your client contacts/messages, followers… and everything else related to your social media pages. All of that data could be wiped away. We do NOT own our social media pages, they belong to the social media companies. This means that we should NOT be solely relying on social media for our client bookings and marketing efforts. This is why it is so important to have a secondary form of marketing and client communication systems to reach your clients.

Another, longer social media blackout is a real possibility, and one that I don’t want to risk impacting my business. 

Here’s what I do and you can do to ensure my business is not impacted in the case of future social media system blackouts:

1. Turn on two factor authentication for all of your accounts/devices.
2. Use an online booking system that sends notifications for booking confirmations and other reminders, either by text or email. Don’t forget to confirm that your clients are receiving these notifications at their appointments.
• I currently use Vagaro as I love their features. But I have also used Square and MailChimp for my marketing efforts and like them as well. Sign up for Vagaro using my link to get your first month free as well as a $25 credit towards product purchases.
3. Use your text/email marketing system to communicate with your clients regularly so they are used to seeing your business name in their inbox.
4. In the event of a social media blackout, put out a marketing blast to let your community know that despite that blackout, you’re still open for business. And most importantly, let them know how you would like them to continue to book with you despite the blackout.

These are easy, but essential, steps to surviving a social media blackout, when it comes again!

If you need help setting up a marketing system that you own in your business, send me an email or Instagram DM and I can share my favourite tips to getting started. 

I want to know! Do you have am marketing system set up so you can communicate with your clients, or were you panicking today? Let me know in the comments below.

Thanks for reading!
Jess