You may have heard that Facebook went down on Monday. It may even have affected you, although I don’t imagine there are that many readers whose online business is built on that platform.
I do know, however, of a few businesses (primarily local ones) who do rely on it. Indeed, it’s quite common for many stores and local services to regard their Facebook page as their entire online presence. Some departments in our local council, to my horror, even pin their colours to that particular mast.
With most marketing channels, if they fail, it’s probably not critical. But have you considered what would happen if they do? What if your marketing email provider was unavailable? Do they hold all of your data? What about your website? Is it backed up, and could you launch an alternative at short notice?
None of us do this as well as we could, and I suspect we could all do better.