Website Monitoring Service and The SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING Networks

If someone were to ask you what tools you use to fight website downtime, your immediate answer may likely be, "An internet site monitoring service". While that answer in and of itself is not a bad one, in case a website monitoring service may be the only tool in your arsenal against the havoc that website downtime can create for your online business, you are not going for a comprehensive method of protecting your business from downtime's effects, nor are you protecting your site's reputation to the very best of one's abilities. While a website monitoring service happens to be a "must-have" tool when it comes to fighting website downtime's consequences, it is not the only tool it is advisable to employ. Assuming you have yet to explore how social media can be used to your advantage in the fight against the damage caused by dreaded website downtime, here are several things to consider.

Communication Is Key

If your visitors can't do something that they want to do while visiting your site, such as make a purchase or browse your site's offerings, they will want to know why the site isn't available when they want usage of it. Obviously, if your website is experiencing any kind of downtime, you can't use the pages of one's site to go into detail about what has gone awry or give your visitors estimates as to when they can expect the site to be functional again. This is where social media is necessary.

While your site may be down, social media marketing networks such as for example Facebook and Twitter are likely up and running. Should you have invested effort and time into creating a social media presence and a following on these sites, you should use these platforms to communicate with your customers when downtime issues do arise. Let's look at two example scenarios to see the difference that using social media marketing in conjunction with your website monitoring service could make.

Scenario One

Site 1 has gone down. They have no social media exposure, no accounts, no followings. They have no chance of communicating making use of their potential customers concerning the downtime they are experiencing or updating customers concerning when the site should be expected to be back up and running. When customers go to the site they get an error message saying the site is down because of technical issues, but no further information is given. Customers become frustrated with the continued downtime so when they do, they begin searching other websites to meet up their needs and make purchases. Site 1 begins to lose customers to the competition, whose websites are up and running and who have better method of communication.

Scenario Two

Site 2 has put social media marketing profiles in place and the company has worked on gaining a big social media following besides using a website monitoring service. The company has prepared for the worst and they understand that when website downtime occurs, they have to use the social media tools at their disposal to communicate with customers regarding said downtime. When the business is notified of downtime by their website monitoring service, they go to work to determine what has caused the downtime to allow them to communicate the issue with the public, utilizing their social media accounts. When the company has estimated how long it will take to get the site back up and running, they communicate this with their customers as well. They could even use the social media marketing platforms to advertise an "apology" offer which allows affected customers to receive a collection dollar amount off or perhaps a percentage off a future purchase to compensate for the inconvenience. Not merely does this foster goodwill among customers, it can help ensure that customers will wait before downtime issue has passed in order to take advantage of the apology offer rather than likely to a competitor to fulfill their needs.

Which Company's Lead DO YOU WANT TO Follow?

You've got a website monitoring service in place. You are made aware as soon as downtime occurs. The question is, exactly what will you do when you are notified by your website monitoring service that there surely is a downtime issue occurring? In case you have invested effort and time into setting up social media accounts and developing a customer following, you may use those social media tools in your favor, providing transparency to your visitors and fostering goodwill and respect amongst them.

If you have yet to put social media marketing to work for your website, this is the time to create a social media marketing presence to help you have your customer following created and built before an issue with downtime occurs. Then, whenever your website monitoring service alerts you that downtime has become an issue, you can go to work to utilize those social media marketing tools accordingly.