The risk of betting everything on social networks

Social networks, including Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, pose a painful dilemma for businesses. Essential marketing tools for certain companies, these platforms can be hacked, can modify their conditions without warning, multiply their prices by 4 or 20 or completely close accounts. Is the risk worth it? Some tips for reducing your dependence on social networks.

Kenza Bouchard, co-founder and co-owner of the online jewelry store Ken & Jame, has had a terrible fall to say the least. Her company’s Facebook and Instagram accounts were hacked on September 24 and she struggled for six weeks, with very little collaboration from social networks, to regain access. “I lost 70% of my sales, it cost me at least $80,000,” she says.

Since 2016, “98% of Ken & Jame’s sales” have gone through the social networks Facebook and Instagram, she specifies. When one of her employees saw her personal account hacked, the problem spread to company accounts, to which she had access. No more way to update the site or complete transactions with customers, who were redirected to a bogus site linked to the cyberhacker. Meta, owner of Facebook and Instagram, was no help.

“I had to hire a “white hacker”, a nice hacker who was able to give me access again for $2,500. It’s not normal that you put $100, 200, $300,000 in advertising per year and people say “Too bad!” when you get hacked. »

Closed for no reason

Marilyne Bouchard, founder and CEO of BKIND, has also had cold sweats with these two social networks, although her misadventures are less dramatic. The company which offers natural body care products has used Instagram “extensively” since 2014. It has 88,000 subscribers who have been entitled to 1,816 publications, sometimes promotional, more often informative or simply funny on delivery, techniques or the effects of the products.

At the same time, it invests hundreds of thousands of dollars per year in advertising on Facebook. Which did not prevent the social network from closing his access three times, apparently for no reason. “A month before we opened the store, in 2019, Facebook decided to block our account, we could no longer publish anything,” says M^me Bouchard. I cried about it. » This blockage had already occurred twice, “for nothing”. “They mistake you for someone else, I don’t know, it’s their algorithm. You have to prove that you are not someone else, and they have deadlines of up to six weeks. »

Maryline Bouchard relies on her store opened in Mile End, in Montreal, on transactions on her own site as well as on sending newsletters to depend less on social networks. “We have not put all our eggs in one basket, that would be extremely damaging. » At Ken & Jame, we have a little hope for the brand new store at Promenades St-Bruno. “The boutique is a trial, it’s not a direction that I necessarily want to take, the costs are exorbitant,” specifies Kenza Bouchard.

Asked to explain the misadventures of Ken & Jame and BKIND, Meta announced, via its Quebec spokesperson, that it had no comment to make on this subject.

The model is similar at Sushi à la maison, which offers home chef, delivery and sales services at eight counters in the province. Its founder, Geneviève Everell, states from the outset that she “swears only by social media”. “That’s what gave birth to me. »

But with counters, a transactional site and newsletters, she says she is aware of the importance of “working in another way” to reduce her dependence on social networks. “For our generation, it’s acquired, we have the impression that it’s there forever. But I see that my 7 year old son has zero interest in social media. We have a generation that will be less focused on these platforms. »

Surprise advertising rates

Managing to bring your community out of the social network to attract it to your own site or store is “the Holy Grail, the absolute objective”, confirms Virgile Ollivier, CEO of Livescale, which offers companies marketing and sales strategies. online.

“On my site, I have a lot more data on them, I give a lot less to social networks who use it for monetization. »

He also suggests to his clients to diversify advertising platforms. “We are going to offer supplements. Rather than putting 100% of advertising on social networks, only put 70% and allocate part of the budget to purchasing experiences that will allow you to differentiate yourself. »

Why reduce this dependence? Mr. Ollivier notes that the prices charged by social networks have exploded after a low at the start of the pandemic. Marilyne Bouchard, from BKIND, estimates, for example, that it cost her $5 in investment in social networks in 2020 to obtain a sale. This “acquisition cost” has increased 20-fold in the last year.

“At the start of the pandemic, costs were so low, we had never seen that: we had so many orders that I told the advertising guys to stop buying them,” summarizes Marilyne Bouchard. At one point it went to $100. The algorithm changes a lot, I don’t know how it’s calculated. It’s difficult to predict your advertising budgets. »

Another example reported by Mr. Ollivier: TikTok, perceived as the Eldorado for accessing young people, now prohibits its users from adding links to transactions outside the platform.

Companies, he agrees, are “more or less successful” in freeing themselves from social networks. “There are very large companies that manage to recover 30% of their audience, with 70% in social networks. It’s a daily struggle. »