Do Not Put All Your Focus On Social Media Networks

Table of Contents 

1. It Is Totally Normal To Have Social Media Following
2. Opt For Email List
3. Now, What To Do When Instagram Is Down?
4. Social Media Is Not The End Of All Marketing
5. What can you do?
6. Moral Of The Story-
7. FAQ

Last week, webOdoctor, top digital marketing company in India, observed that suddenly Facebook and Instagram went down for 10+ hours, and everyone started panicking all around. Facebook goes down, Instagram goes down, then everyone runs to Twitter to figure out what the heck is going on.

 There is a key lesson in this for all businesses - depending on just one form of marketing is neither sustainable nor smart. You don’t own the networks or the followings you’ve built on them. That's why with my social media agency clients (and throughout my career), I have always advised an integrated, multi-channel approach.

Here are our tips and thoughts:

It Is Totally Normal To Have Social Media Following

Whether you are an influencer or a brand, it is normal to have followers on one platform. And if you do well on one, then we do not think it’s valuable to concentrate on it to generate the best results. At the same time, webOdoctor also fully supports quitting a social media network if you're seeing zero return from it.

With all that in mind, we also suggest that you spread across more networks – not just shut down your diary and sit holding your hands tight on the budget. Why? Well, let’s take the example of Instagram shutting down for 10+ hours. If that is the ONLY network you have, well, you were put in a tough spot without being able to post or interact.

As the best social media marketing company in India, webOdoctor suggests you go for cross-platform networking- so you can gain an audience across each of the networks you use (and it’s also a handy tactic to fill in content gaps). If one goes down, you can go to another. The problem is that the two biggest ones (Instagram and Facebook) are owned by Facebook, so both went down. So when choosing which networks to be active on, perhaps take who owns which ones into consideration as well.

Opt For Email List

It’s crazy how many people have huge followings and no email list. Remember that if any network shuts down tomorrow, all your followers on that platform are gone too.

Build your email list to create multiple connections with people who are fans of your work.

Now, What To Do When Instagram Is Down?

We were flooded with questions about Instagram and Facebook being down- BUT TRULY SPEAKING, this is not the only case to handle. People are sometimes very confused and totally go by making decisions without having a digital marketing consultant.

The big networks also provide outrage information which they keep up to date on what’s happening.

When a network goes down-

• Check if it is for you or everyone.

• Take it as a hint to take some time off social OR
• Get to work on another social media network (like my earlier example of increasing my Twitter activity for the day)

All you can do is try to use these tools in the best way possible. There is no single path to success; everyone’s process is different - every brand that uses social media will be different, with different strategies and tactics for each one.

Social Media Is Not The End Of All Marketing

Well! This could be strange, but after all, billions of users who scroll, like, share, or comment every single day may fail to learn much on social media. Because learning has become too heavy with social media, as this comes with too high a risk, and opportunities are missed.  Sometimes businesses that depend totally on social media may fail to take risks and things are too vulnerable to changes or “ Google Updates”.

But here are a few steps that may reduce your pressure and keep your brand resilient and visible.

Why relying heavily on the best Social Media Marketing services is Risky?

1. You cannot control their policies. If the platform changes how content is to be prioritized unexpectedly, the brand may face a sudden drop. One outage and a few hours of downtime can disrupt your engagement.
2. Algorithm changes are constant. A post that gets great reach in one month can see a drop in the other month. So, businesses that depend entirely on one platform can find their content disappearing into users’ feeds unless they don’t opt for Paid Marketing.
3. No platform is immune to technical failure, so don’t let your brand stay silent during these phases else you may lose both communication and trust.
4. Remember, the data access of your audience is not in your grip, and you wish to connect with them.
5. Sedentary behavior means spending time seated or inactive. Relaxing is important, but so is regular exercise and body movement. Any screen time, including time on social media, encourages people to stay sedentary for long periods of time. A heavy social media user may be sedentary for hours at a time every day.
6. A survey has found that due to social media, 1/3 admit to sleeping with their phones next to them in bed.
7. Social Media has now become more of an addiction, despite there being no clinical diagnosis of social media. Half of social media users admit that it would be hard to give up on social media.
8. Missing out on a Face-to-Face relationship. Social media can be harmful when it replaces time with family and friends. Some opportunities to build social skills can't be recreated online.
9. Less time for other activities. When someone is on social media, they give up on other activities. It can also get in the way of responsibilities like work, chores, or taking care of yourself. Choosing to spend time on social media is okay. But it's important to be mindful of your social media use.
10. Audience Fragmentation, where a younger audience can favour new apps, and competitors may saturate, increasing the cost of advertising.

1. Build and nurture an Email List
2. Develop a strong website and have your detailed blogs
3. Diversify social media platforms and don’t just be limited to the “big two”
4. Use content for repurposing
5. Go for Paid Channels wisely
6. Always have a PLAN B

When Social Media Crashes, What’s Your Backup Plan?

1. Note if the outage is global or isolated
2. Switch to other active platforms
3. Go for evergreen content
4. Communicate with your audience and try to be transparent
5. Review your strategy and adapt to minimize risk time.

Are Your Priorities as Smart as You?

1. Know your audience, like which platform they use and why.
2. Measure ROI and track records
3. Focus on channels that are producing better content and change your mode.
4. Regularly audit your strategy.
5. Sometimes one platform might work and another may not, so keep an eye on the impact.

Moral Of The Story-

PLEASE HAVE A DIGITAL MEDIA CONSULTANT FOR YOUR BUSINESS  @webOdoctor

And do not try to put all your social media eggs into one.

Don’t put all your social media eggs in one basket. This can be the pivot to your growth and awareness. Don’t think it to be your only path and own as much of your media as possible, and believe in creating your story in your way. That way, when one channel doesn’t work, the other can back you up better.

FAQ

Q1. Why is it risky to depend only on Facebook or Instagram for marketing?
A1. Because you don’t own the platform, any outage, algorithm update, or policy change can instantly reduce your reach and engagement.

Q2. What should businesses do when Instagram or Facebook goes down?
A2. First, confirm whether the outage is global. Then switch to other platforms, engage your audience elsewhere, or take time to work on long-term strategies like blogs or email marketing.

Q3. How can email marketing help if social media fails?
A3. An email list is fully owned by your business. It ensures direct communication with your audience regardless of social media outages or algorithm changes.

Q4. What are the biggest risks of over-relying on social media?
A4. Risks include a sudden drop in engagement, technical outages, addiction-driven usage, audience fragmentation, and lack of control over your followers’ data.

Q5. Which platforms should businesses diversify into apart from Facebook and Instagram?
A5. Depending on your target audience, you can explore Twitter/X, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, Snapchat, or emerging decentralized networks.