The country has witnessed an increase in Instagram crashes over the past few months. Just last week, the popular social media and messaging app owned by Facebook crashed for over an hour for thousands of users.
Normally, this is not something to panic over. But if you run a business and you rely on WhatsApp, Facebook or even Instagram for customer engagement; this is not a simple matter.
Why are WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook crashing?
Over 23 crore Indians use Instagram in India. During its crash, over 30 thousand people were not able to open their apps, load new content or faced connectivity issues.
Most of the time, social media apps crash because of backend technical issues being resolved. WhatsApp has always been prone to bugs, ‘crash codes’ and spam messages, but a global or national outage often happens due to a technical repair job.
Why should your business take social media outages seriously?
To understand this, here’s what you need to know about social media platforms. WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram are 3 of the most commonly used platforms for business communication and selling.
Besides this:
1. Customers prefer mobile messaging
According to messengerpeople.com, over 91% of India’s internet population uses mobile for their digital tasks; from shopping to messaging. Most of your customers prefer browsing from their phones.
An app crash means thousands of customers cannot access your social media profile, watch videos, engage with your content or message you.
Sure, this does not mean they will not interact again on your page; but why allow this to become an issue?
2. Small businesses prefer social media
Did you know that WhatsApp has a 91.7% reach for social media applications for users in India? Instagram is now the most preferred social media platform for India’s youth.
According to Global Web Index, a UK-based audience targeting firm, 54% of social media browsing is done for product-related brand research.
This means social media is going to continue to lead the discovery of independent brands.
3. You could lose potential customers
The longest WhatsApp crash lasted about 3 hours, which is not too long for a customer, but it does matter to your business. When you set up a WhatsApp, Instagram or Facebook presence, you need to keep in constant touch with your customers and address any queries or doubts.
More than 58% of customers find brands through recommendations on social media, so ignoring an app crash could cost you a new customer.
And we’re back! We resolved the issue that caused today’s outage, and apologize for any inconvenience. https://t.co/2Av4sC4C5B
— Instagram Comms (@InstagramComms) September 22, 2022
What to do when Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp crash
This might surprise you, but your customers will not stay calm! Owing to the increasing number of times the apps crash, several netizens take to Twitter to tweet their panic about the apps crashing and being unable to post or browse.
THAT is your moment to shine as a conscious brand.
1. Keep customers informed
Keep calm and get online! If one app is down, keep your communication active on another. When you get wind of a WhatsApp crash or Instagram and Facebook outage, send an email or SMS alert to your customers.
It may not be a huge deal, but if Facebook thinks it is important to alert folks about their website and app being down, so should you.
There are a number of issues currently affecting Facebook products, including gaming streams. Multiple teams are working on it, and we’ll update you when we can.
— Facebook Gaming (@FacebookGaming) March 19, 2021
Allow customers to revert as soon as the app is back online
Your customers spend roughly 5 hours on social media apps. They will be completely aware of a social media app crash and if not, this is your opportunity to indulge in a little engagement.
Put out a tweet, a post, a story or a simple message on WhatsApp assuring customers that the app(WhatsApp, Facebook, or Instagram) is working now and business is back to normal.
Thanks for your patience, that was a long 45 minutes but we are back! #WhatsAppDown
— WhatsApp (@WhatsApp) March 19, 2021
Choose an alternative platform to sell
What about your current customers? If your social media sees a temporary outage, how do your customers reach you or check out your products and services?
Give them an alternative.
You can always have an alternative. Keep your business active across platforms. Do not rely on only one source to run your business, at least in the long run.
For example:
As an eCommerce platform that over 2 million businesses rely on, we understand the need to be present on multiple social media platforms!
You can connect to us on our Instagram | Facebook | Youtube | Pinterest or just email us at support@instamojo.com!
Start your business journey with us!
You can set up an online store with Instamojo for free, and upgrade it later to suit your brand needs.
Having an Instamojo online store is beneficial because –
- It allows customers to browse calmly while social media is out
- All potential leads get collected in one place so you can reach out to them via SMS and email
- You can communicate with your customers via LIVE chat on the store until the apps are back up
- You can continue to upload new products and services without any hassle
