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How to protect you’re brand when you’re locked out of Facebook

Zivile Einikyte Zivile Einikyte
December 28, 2020

Hello Everyone!

So, this time I’m back with some really simple and practical insights which will allow you to avoid losing control of your brand in an instant.

These insights are based on a personal experience and what I learned from it. Hopefully my advice can help you avoid a similar situation.

But I’m getting ahead of myself, let me set the stage.

Solo Channels

Since 2014, once social media started growing, we all started moving our brand building activities towards solo channels. If you were a part of this early journey, you remember how we switched from MySpace to Facebook, how we were adopting Twitter, and fast learning the art of Instagram. It is very impressive to see the changes in LinkedIn as well as overall social media marketing growth.

But rarely do we think about how dependent we are on those platforms. Remember when Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram were down globally back in 2019?

It was a disaster.

Every media outlet was writing about it and people were left hopeless. The positive side of it, we knew that it was just temporary and that our friend or colleague also lost access to those channels.

Locked Out

A few weeks ago, I experienced a different scenario. My Facebook was blocked and I couldn’t access my account. Neither Messenger nor Facebook Ads Manager. And this time it wasn’t everyone without access. It was only me.

Everyone had access to the Facebook channel but me.

I have to admit, the moment I realized this truth, I was shocked. The second moment, I was thinking of plan B.

Fortunately, all my accounts had a secondary manager who could act on behalf of the company. So this part was sorted and safe. However, there are more challenges I faced; personal connections and content.

Before investigating why I got locked out of Facebook, I ensured that all my company activities were handled.

Once I got this covered, I tried looking for a reason and unfortunately, the only explanation I could receive from Facebook employees from my personal network:

I might have been blocked by a bot and there is nothing we can do about it just wait for the case to be reviewed.

I was fortunate enough to have my account back in a few days. Was I worried about it? Honestly, I wasn’t. Because I had other channels to communicate and interact on. And so:

How to ensure that your brand will thrive and survive even without social media.

Do not rely on one social media channel

After being actively involved in startup activities and exposed to many business ideas and strategies on a daily basis, I noticed that some brands tend to rely on a short term communication strategy, often on only one particular social media channel.

Now ask yourself two questions:

  • What would I do if my Facebook/Instagram is down?
  • Do I have another channel to reach my audience?

After you’ve asked yourself these questions, review your strategy again, and analyze if you have a plan B. If not, it’s time to make one.

We have a good example with the Facebook messenger bugs last week or Google services suffering a global outage just a few days ago. Relying on social media as your only marketing strategy might lead to unforeseen losses in the long run.

Align your brand across multiple channels

Social media bugs and failures awakened business owners and marketers to the fact that we should allocate our budget and resources across multiple channels and tools. In doing so, don’t forget to align your brand accordingly. People who get exposed to your brand want to recognize the same voice and identity.

In the meantime, 2020 brought us the massive growth of personal brands that represent and help to expose your business.

While building your authentic brand, do not forget to promote your personal brand.

It will help you to stand out online and empower you to build stronger contacts. As a result, it will lead you to more opportunities and a wider network.

Email marketing is the thing

Social Media Marketing is great! But as it was expressed before, it’s not something you can rely on. I highly recommend you to consider building a strong email marketing strategy, if you haven’t already started.

Email marketing is a well-known strategic approach to lead generation. It’s been here for a while, it’s a proven way to build your audience and brand community.

If you are new to email marketing, don’t get stressed, take it one step at a time. And a good first step is to start form sorting your data and segmentation. The more targeted your message and your offer to your audience, the more personalized it will feel.

The best thing with email marketing is finding your audience and test what works and what doesn’t. Involve your audience list and listen to their opinion about upcoming product updates or new designs. This feedback loop can grow into a long-term friendship.

And to see if your emails are working and reaching our audience, set up some key measures to track it:

  • delivery rate
  • open rate
  • click-through rate
  • landing page hits
  • bounce rate
  • leads converted

And one final thing to take into consideration – automation. This will save you a ton of time and help a lot! There are plenty of resources and recommendations about it; simply choose the one(s) that best fits your goals.

In conclusion

  1. Work across multiple channels, when technology breaks, your brand sings with little damage;
  2. Be brave to test content and listen to your audience – they know the best what your next product feature should be;
  3. Do not expect fast results. Building your brand online requires some patience. You have to build trust. So instead of selling directly, find ways to share your story while listening to your potential clients.

With Holiday wishes,

Zivile Einikyte

Events to RSVP in the upcoming months:

  • Your own Annual Review 2020
    Winter season has many benefits and one of them – to click pause and reflect on your work and get ready for an upcoming year. My best advice for year evaluation and preparation for 2021 is this blueprint. Give it a try!
  • Consumer Technology Association (CES)  – January 11-14, 2021
    A well-known conference for technology innovators, cutting edge technologies, and the latest product launches from around the world. This time it’s going all-digital.
  • SaaStr Annual 2021 – February 2-4
    It’s of the best SaaS conferences in the industry that happens every year. For the year 2021, it’s going to be a hybrid, so it’s a great chance to get a glimpse of why there is such a buzz about this conference.
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Zivile Einikyte

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