The Facebook Outage: What Platform Mishaps Mean For Marketers
On October 4th 2021, Facebook was hit with what is believed to be the biggest failure in the company’s history: a 6-hour outage which led to estimated losses of $79 million in ad revenue for the platform.
In a statement, Facebook cited a configuration change to the backbone routers that coordinate network traffic between the company’s data centres as the reason for the outage. This meant that not only was Facebook itself affected, but every platform Facebook runs, including Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp - the latter being relied upon as a primary form of communication by around 2 billion people across the world.
For marketers, the outage meant not only an abrupt halt to advertising and marketing efforts, but an end to communication with teams and clients for the millions still working remotely.
But greater than that is the damage to trust and in reputation which will prove significantly harder to recoup. The Facebook outage has caused many businesses and marketers to question whether they should be rethinking the way they use and rely on particular social media platforms altogether.
So as the platform grapples with the aftermath of its technical disaster, what lessons does all of this pose for social media marketers and the brands they manage? We’ve highlighted 3 key takeaways to take note of for the future:
an omni-channel approach is key
Unsurprisingly, when users realised they could no longer access Facebook, Instagram or WhatsApp, they migrated to other platforms. Google search traffic for Twitter, for instance, rose by 50% in just 25 minutes, while time spent on Snapchat increased by 23%. Traffic to messaging platforms like Discord and Telegram, as well as news sites like The Guardian, New York Times and CNN all increased too. Aaron Goldman, CMO at leading global advertising technology platform Mediaocean, thinks that taking an omni-channel approach is key:
"The same way consumers don't rely on any one app for all their media consumption and interpersonal communication, brands cannot rely on any one app for all their marketing.”
“At the end of the day, brands can turn challenges like a Facebook outage into an opportunity to connect with consumers in other ways. But in order to execute, brands need to have an omnichannel approach to everything from advertising to content to commerce.”
But how can marketers execute this kind of strategy? Goldman suggests that brands “need a centralized platform that connects with all the various media and advertising channels. Marketers can use automated tools to handle budget planning, audience definition, creative personalisation, bid management, and campaign measurement. So if Facebook is down, or just not performing well, the spend will move to other media partners and come back when the issues are resolved.”
2. Having your own mailing list is invaluable
Building a mailing list and/or SMS list is crucial to futureproofing your brand, as it ensures your business is never solely reliant on the whims and unpredictabilities of third party platforms. Social media platforms are of course vital for marketing in the modern world, helping brands to build relationships with customers, grow their communities, engage in social listening, provide customer service, and even sell products via social commerce. However, all of these activities should be underpinned by safe, strong, and up to date data, so that your brand always has a reliable way to communicate directly with the people and clients that matter most.
3. Have a plan, but be adaptable
Marketers are more often than not running at 100 miles an hour, juggling multiple projects and playing catch up on an endless list of jobs. Having a solid marketing plan or strategy in place is key to being able to manage these responsibilities - but it’s also not the be all and end all. When things inevitably go wrong that are very much out of your control, the brands that can adapt are the ones that come out on top. Whether it’s migrating your audience to other platforms, shifting to email to communicate reliably, or simply understanding your audience enough to make light of the situation in the form of a topical meme, being adaptable is one of the most important skills for marketers.
At the end of the day, marketers, brands and users are alike in that they cannot control if and when platforms go down. But with an omni-channel approach, a secure mailing list, and a reliable but adaptable marketing strategy, marketers can help brands and their communities stay one step ahead.
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