Why You Shouldn’t Put All Your Focus Into Only One Social Media Network

14 Mar Why You Shouldn’t Put All Your Focus Into Only One Social Media Network

It happens here and there. Facebook goes down, Instagram goes down, and everyone runs to Twitter to figure out WTF is going on. This week I want to talk about the importance of spreading your social media following and building your email list.

I feel like this is a perfect opportunity to bring this subject up especially with both Instagram and Facebook going down on 3/13 for about 10 hours! We had influencers contacting us asking “is there something wrong with Instagram?” – mostly the ones who ONLY use Instagram. This is a lesson for social media influencers and businesses alike. Depending on just one form of marketing your business is not sustainable or smart. You don’t own the networks and the followings you’ve built on them.

That is why with my social media agency clients (and throughout my career) I always advise to go for a multi-channel approach.

Here are some tips and thoughts on spreading your social media following…

Spread Your Social Media Following

It’s totally normal to have one network out-perform the others wether you are an influencer or a brand. And if you do well on one, then I do think it’s valuable to concentrate on the one one getting you the best results a little more. My long time readers, you also know I fully support quitting a social media network if you are seeing zero action from it.

With all that out of the way, I do always suggest to spread your following across more than one network. Why? Well, let’s take the example of Instagram shutting down for 9 hours. If that is the ONLY network you have, well, you were put in a tough spot without being able to post or interact.

I suggest having a presence on multiple social media networks so you can spread your social media following. I also always recommend cross promoting between each network so you can gain an audience across all of the networks your 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 what networks to be active on perhaps take who owns which ones into consideration.

When things went awry on Instagram and Facebook, I took to my favorite network – Twitter – to keep in touch with my audience. I was a little more active on there than usual, since everyone seemed to be checking in on what was happening there. P.S You can follow me on Twitter @DhariLo.

Build Your Email List

My second suggestion for spreading your following is to build your 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 are gone. Build up that email list so that you still have a connection to people who are fans of your work.

This is why you can’t put all your effort into one #socialmedia network people! Build your email list, spread your following. #facebookdown #instagramdown

— Dhariana Lozano – NYC Social Media Consultant (@DhariLo) March 13, 2019

So Instagram Is Down, Now What?

We were flooded with questions about Instagram and Facebook being down. Some influencers thought it was only their accounts and I thought to myself “wow, you really don’t know there was an outage?’. This just goes to show that so many people are putting all their eggs into one basket. They didn’t even think to check on other networks to see what was happening. The big networks also provide outrage information which they keep up to date on what’s happening.

When a network goes down you:

• Check if it’s just you or everyone. There are websites that track when networks go down. Even a Google search can help you get answers.
• 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)

At the end of the day, a big social media following or a huge email list doesn’t actually build your business. As we experienced earlier this week, social media networks can go away tomorrow, and people can unsubscribe from your list. All you can do is try to use these tools in the best way possible. There is no one road to success, everyone’s path is different. Every brand who uses social media will be different, with different strategies and tactics for each one. Moral of this story: try not to put all your social media eggs in one basket.

If you’re ready to take your brand to to the next level and really learn about what elements make a successful brand join me on Tuesday, March 19 for The 5 Key Elements To Owning Your Brand On Social Media: http://bit.ly/2Cfo2ky. I’ll be reviewing the common elements that I’ve seen over my 8 years in social media marketing that apply to all the brands that are crushing it online.

Sign up here: http://bit.ly/2Cfo2ky

<3 DhariLo