Today, Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram are all down. It’s also not common knowledge (though it’s widely available) that all three apps are owned by one company. Twitter is speculating why. Last night 60 Minutes aired an episode about the conditions of working at this company. Is that why? Unless Zuckerberg is throwing a giant tantrum or everyone walked out on strike, no, it is not.
What does that mean for indie authors who use those platforms to market their books? It means you’re going to have a dip in sales, unless you do a few things:
1. Seek out other social media platforms. Your target audience might be loyal to the FB trio, but there’s other places they go.
-Add some pins to your Pinterest boards for your books. If you don’t have a Pinterest account, create one.
-Go to Twitter. Tweet about the outage. Tweet about your process. Engage in the #writingcommunity.
-Make a TikTok or engage in #BookTok.
2. Blog. People are probably hitting up WordPress and other blog sites to connect to their favorite authors or to get in some interaction.
3. Make a quick newsletter talking about the outage, how it’s affecting you, make a quick announcement about your latest release, and send it out. Without the major platforms up, people might be checking emails.
4. Work on your Amazon author page.
5. Write and don’t worry about reader engagement today!