12+ Things You Can Do When Your Social Media Apps Crash

Facebook is down. Instagram is down. Your scrolling thumb is having sudden withdrawals. What should you do when your social media apps crash? Don’t panic. Do this instead…

WHEN SOCIAL MEDIA APPS CRASH

There are a lot of reasons that these platforms break or crash on occasion. Whether it’s a glitch or a hack, most social platforms experience some downtime here and there. And sometimes, our favorite social platforms crash for hours at a time.

When it happens, everyone online seems to panic. Is it an attack? Will Facebook ever come back? IS MY BUSINESS GOING TO FAILLL??!!!

But this won’t be you. 

Because YOU are the CEO of your business and you are going to show up and make the tough decisions to keep your business afloat, whether Facebook and Instagram exist or not.

Note: these platforms aren’t going anywhere…

It can be scary and stressful when our most popular social platform crashes. But try not to panic. There are plenty of things we can still do for our business while Facebook and friends figure their stuff out.

WHAT TO DO 

The answer is somewhat dependent on your own business goals. And yes, social media is often a big part of our business goals.

A lot of us rely heavily on social media to communicate with our audience, promote our products, and grow our businesses. 

But social media crashes, like the big Facebook, Instagram, Whats App crash from October 4th, 2021 offer a harsh reminder that we DO NOT own that space. And those things can be taken away from us at any time.

While it’s great to leverage social media for your business, keep in mind that it’s only one piece of a much larger business equation… and you need to have plans in place to keep your business afloat on those days that Facebook and Instagram are not working. 

This is why I always highlight the importance of having your own self-hosted website and your own email list (these are two things that you actually own entirely).

We’ll get into that more later in this article! 

For now, here are some productive things you can do for your blogging biz while the social media giants, like Facebook and Instagram, aren’t working.

CREATE A FREEBIE

People love FREE. And if you can give your audience something for free to showcase your expertise or your personal brand, now is the time to do that!

Hopefully you already have some freebies (AKA: content upgrades) in your blogging arsenal. But if you don’t, today is the day to create one.

Head over to Canva – it’s FREE – and start working on a freebie that you can offer to your audience.

Some ideas:

• Worksheets
• Mini e-books
• Printables
• Guides

Throw something valuable together for your readers in Canva, download it to your computer or phone, and then send that baby to your readers or subscribers.

Pro Tip: Use this free gift as a lead magnet to grow your email list!

WORK ON A GAME PLAN 

If you don’t already have an annual game plan in place, now is the time.

Where do you want to be with your blog one year from now? Five years from now?

What are you going to do if you can’t earn income from social media? Or if you lose your social accounts entirely (this just happened to my friend Mike from Stupid Simple SEO, and it could happen to anyone). 

Work on a game plan for your business and make sure that you have a few potential income streams, just in case.

You can grab my Annual Blog Vision Planner here (this one is for 2021). 

UPDATE AN OLD BLOG POST

If you don’t have a lot of time, writing a fresh blog post might not be an option today. But updating an old post is a much more attainable goal.

Pull up one of your older blog posts and make little improvements. Clean up the introduction. Add a call-to-action to the end. Add a few affiliate links where applicable.

If you need help getting started with affiliate marketing, enroll in this free 5-day affiliate marketing training today!

MAKE PINTEREST PINS 

We’re all fed up with Pinterest… until Facebook crashes and we realize that (a lot of us) still need a little help from Pinterest to get blog traffic! 

If you still can’t login to Facebook or Instagram and you want to do something productive for your blog, make a couple new catchy Pinterest pins. 

To make it even easier on yourself, just grab some templates like these from a Pinterest pro that already did the design work for you

Just fill in the text, adjust the colors to match your own branding or topic, and hit publish on Pinterest. 

GET SOME EXERCISE 

When you’re feeling stuck, go outside and get some fresh air. 

Take a walk. Stretch. Do yoga.

Exercise is essential for optimal brain function. So consider this Facebook crash a blessing in disguise. 

A gentle nudge to get outside or get that heart rate up! It will actually help you think more clearly and accomplish more when you get back to your desk. 

CALL A COLLEAGUE 

Two heads are better than one, right? 

Call a blogging buddy or a colleague and have a little brainstorming sesh!

Talk about your quarterly plans or arrange to work together on a collaboration.

Plan a one-day summit. Plan a co-working session. 

Or just sip on wine and commiserate with someone who ‘gets it’.

RECORD SOME VIDEO

You’re never gonna hear the end of this one.

If you want to grow your authority and visibility, you NEED to be recording video.

With your face or voice, if possible.

Get brave and record some video today! If you just want to record tutorials sharing your screen, try Screencast-o-Matic. 

Other options: Record snippets of video for Reels or TikToks (that you can upload after they come back online). 

DO SOME READING 

Part of being a great business owner is listening and learning. 

If you haven’t done any educational reading lately, I highly recommend grabbing a book and digging in today.

A couple of entrepreneur-focused books that I love:

• Traffic Secrets by Russel Brunson 
•  The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss
• The Secrets of Six Figure Woman by Barbara Stanny
• How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey

START WRITING AN EBOOK 

Every time I chat with creators, I usually hear about their big dreams of ‘one day’ writing and publishing an e-book.

Social media has crashed (temporarily). We aren’t doing any mindless scrolling today.

Take this day to outline or start on that e-book that you wanted to write. 

Once it’s done, just upload the ebook to Sendowl and start selling that baby! 

SCHEDULE SOCIAL POSTS

Even when Facebook and Instagram crash, they’re usually back up and running within a few hours. 

I’ve never experienced a social media crash that lasted longer than 24 hours (although it is still possible, of course)! 

If you’re feeling the need to be productive, take a few minutes today to schedule some social media posts for the rest of the week. 

Use Publer. They have a great free plan and it’s super easy to schedule content out to all of your social platforms.

HEAD TO TWITTER 

It’s kind of a long-running joke among Twitter users that everyone comes rushing over when Facebook and Instagram crash (and it’s soooo true)! 

When other social media channels crash, most people are gonna head over to Twitter.

So get your cute little booty over there and engage with your audience. 

Ask some questions. 
Do a poll. 
Share a helpful article. 
Answer some questions. 

Show up for your people wherever they are (most likely, they are on Twitter when everything else has crashed).

SCHEDULE SOME EMAILS 

Email marketing is insanely valuable for every blogger and creator. If you haven’t started your email marketing journey yet, here’s an easy starter guide.

But if you have started and you already have a few subscribers, take some time to send out an email or schedule an email for later in the week.

What is something helpful or interesting you can share with your audience this week? 

Tips
Trainings 
News
Freebies
Reminders

Remember that space in their inbox is precious. Don’t fill it with fluff.

Think about what your audience wants or needs today, and do your best to be of service to them! 

And of course, make sure you have your own self-hosted website. No matter what. Most hosts will help you transfer your site free of charge. If you’re ready to switch to self-hosting, grab any hosting plan from NameHero right here.

When social media apps crash, don’t panic, just pivot your focus to other important tasks that need to be done. Sometimes, a break from social media scrolling is the best thing for your business!