If you communicate through your audience on social media, the recent outage probably had you frantically trying to find alternative forms of communication. Or, maybe it was a peaceful breath of fresh air that you’ve needed for ages. Maybe you don’t use social media at all. Either way, we can learn something from this situation.
“Don’t build your house on someone else’s property”
We aren’t saying these platforms are terrible or to never utilize third-party services, but consider it this way. If you are relying on another system for the base operations of your business or organization, everything falls apart if something causes another social media outage.
This week was a reminder that we all need to have multiple ways to reach our audience with at least one that does not rely on another service. For example, if we all had a list of prospective, current, and former customers/members/clients and their contact information, we could pivot by sending out an email or text should social media disappear for a day.
Social media is still an incredibly powerful tool to connect with businesses and consumers, so while we are recommending to diversify efforts, we are not saying there is no return on investment when utilizing these services. If you are looking for more ways to grow as a result of social media efforts, this article is a great place to start. We created a free gameplan worksheet to help small business owners develop a social media strategy that appeals to their audience and utilizes existing strengths.
Up Next: The Best Way to Diversify Efforts
The Best Way to Diversify Efforts
Own your list
If you haven’t heard this phrasing before, that’s okay! The concept is reminding us how important it is to have direct access to our target audience. The most common and effective way to do this in today’s age is through email marketing. Building and owning an up-to-date contact list of people who are already interested in what you have to offer is a game-changer. Plus, people who choose to receive your emails are happy to see your name pop up in their inbox (that is, when you provide useful and relevant information or resources they want).
Where do you start? As aptly described by Jenna Kutcher, a small business growth guru we respect, it’s a step-by-step process.
- Pick a platform
- Invite people you already know might be interested
- Make it easy to sign up
- Provide quality content for free
- Pair list-building efforts with your current marketing strategies (& use uncommon tactics to supplement)
Reach out to us today to schedule a strategy session to go through what it will take to implement these steps for your organization.