Monday, March 4, Facebook temporarily went down, leaving thousands of Facebook and Instagram users at least unable to access their accounts. This includes many businesses who use social media as a primary means of both marketing to and engaging with customers.
One local example is Alea Garvin, co-owner of the Whipped Creamery dessert shop, which has locations in Grovetown and Martinez.
Garvin, who opened the ice cream eatery’s first brick-and-mortar in late 2020, maintains a robust presence on social media, regularly posting videos on Instagram and Tik-Tok, showcasing the store’s treats and specials.
“I use it for brand awareness… pretty much letting people know that we are here,” said Garvin. “I use it to keep our customers coming back, so [also] customer retention.”
Garvin’s approach to using digital media is image-heavy and consistent, she says, so as to “stay ahead of the customer” in format defined by its rapid pace and host of diversions.
Even Garvin, however, is savvy enough to have alternatives in her marketing plan amid high-tech hiccups. Whipped Creamery regularly invites customers to sign up for email and text messaging updates, and Garvin occasionally utilizes mass emails to keep the word going out about what the business is up to.
The Pink Boutique is a top contributor to the public Facebook group Augusta Business Connection. The Central Avenue women’s apparel store has been open for some seven months. Its proprietor, William Harrison, says business has been good, and attributes some “65 to 70%” of that success to posting on social media.
“It’s a blessing in that it’s free advertising,” Harrison said, while also noting he feels that sometimes businessowners are stifled by the algorithms from connecting with a wider potential base.
While he feels social media is useful tool, he also believes Facebook particularly is growing more irrelevant. He lauds, however, the lasting usefulness of group pages like Augusta Business Connection.
“Group sites are the only way to reach the masses anymore… because Meta (the corporation which owns Facebook) now limits who sees your stuff,” he said. “Group sites are the only way to really reach the masses without paying a ton of dollars.”
Jim Cox, president of Southeastern Marketing, echoes that social media has proven both an effective and economical outlet for promotion efforts, through which to both engage with and receive feedback from consumers.
“It actually has created jobs. I’ve had several clients hire full time social media managers,” said Cox, whose clientele includes the Fairway Ford auto dealership and Lionel Smith Ltd. “It allows smaller businesses a low-dollar way to promote themselves that might not be able to afford to do so otherwise.”
Cox also observes that mishaps like last Monday’s are part of the price of doing business.
“That’s like a television station going down, or a radio station or getting struck by lightning,” he said. “You just have to have enough other things going on to where, yeah it’s an inconvenience, but you know it’s going to be back up at some point.”
This is an insight Garvin has already taken to heart. While she puts the bulk of her of her time and effort in promoting through social media — “because that’s what wins” — her aim of staying ahead of the customer is paramount.
She admits that she had been inconsistent with her mass email campaign, but that Facebook shutting down “put a fire under” her.
“I’m a visionary, and I’m always looking at what I can do next,” she said.
Whipped Creamery has locations at 514 Oxbow Drive in Grovetown and 353 Furys Ferry Road in Martinez.
The Pink Boutique is located at 2569 Central Ave. in Augusta.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
