Website Monitoring Service and The Social Media Networks

If someone were to ask you what tools you utilize to fight website downtime, your immediate answer may likely be, "A website monitoring service". While that answer in and of itself isn't a bad one, if a website monitoring service may be the only tool in your arsenal contrary to the havoc that website downtime can create for your web 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 best of your abilities. While a website monitoring service happens to be a "must-have" tool with regards to fighting website downtime's consequences, it isn't the only tool you should employ. If you have yet to explore how social media marketing may be used to your advantage in the fight against the damage due to dreaded website downtime, here are some things to consider.

Communication Is Key

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

While your site could be down, social media marketing networks such as for example Facebook and Twitter tend up and running. For those who have invested time and effort into creating a social media presence and a following on these sites, you can 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 site monitoring service could make.

Scenario One

Site 1 has gone down. They have no social media exposure, no accounts, and no followings. They have no way of communicating making use of their potential customers concerning the downtime they're experiencing or updating customers concerning when the site can be expected to be back up and running. When customers visit the site they get one message saying the website is down due to technical issues, but no more information is given. Customers become frustrated with the continued downtime so when they do, they begin searching other websites to meet their needs and make purchases. Site 1 begins to lose customers to the competition, whose websites are ready to go and who've better means of communication.

Scenario Two

Site 2 has put social media profiles in place and the company has worked on gaining a big social media following in addition to using a website monitoring service. The company has prepared for the worst plus 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 problem with the public, utilizing their social media accounts. Once the company has estimated just how long it will take to obtain the site back ready to go, they communicate this making use of their customers as well. They may even use the social media marketing platforms to advertise an "apology" offer that allows affected customers to get a set 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 make sure that customers will wait before downtime issue has passed so that they can take advantage of the apology offer rather than going to a competitor to satisfy their needs.

Which Company's Lead Will You Follow?

You have a website monitoring service set up. You are made aware the moment downtime occurs. The question is, exactly what will you do if 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 marketing accounts and creating a customer following, you should use those social media tools in your favor, providing transparency to your visitors and fostering goodwill and respect amongst them.

Assuming you have yet to put social media to work for your website, this is the time to create a social media marketing presence so you can 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, it is possible to go to work to utilize those social media marketing tools accordingly.