This past weekend, TikTok unexpectedly went offline in the US, leaving over 170 million users disconnected and confused. For the millions of creators, brands, and businesses relying on TikTok to reach their audiences, the outage was a stark reminder of a critical business truth: when you depend too heavily on a single platform, you’re playing a risky game.
The platform eventually came back online, but the lesson remains: your business cannot afford to put all its eggs in one basket.
Let’s break down what this means and what you can do to safeguard your brand.
The Risks of Relying on One Platform
1️⃣ You’re Vulnerable
If your business depends solely on one platform to generate leads, sales, or engagement, you’re putting yourself in a fragile position. A technical glitch, regulatory changes, or even outright platform bans can cut you off from your audience in an instant.
2️⃣ It’s Their Platform, Not Yours
Platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook are owned and controlled by private companies. They set the rules, they control the algorithms, and they decide what happens next. As a business, you’re essentially renting space on their turf. That’s not a secure long-term strategy.
3️⃣ The Unexpected Happens
If the past few years have taught us anything, it’s to prepare for the unexpected. Social media outages, data breaches, and shifting digital landscapes are all reminders that adaptability is key to survival.
How to Protect Your Business
✔️ Diversify Your Digital Presence
Relying on just one platform is a recipe for disaster. Diversify across at least five platforms to ensure you’re not completely derailed if one goes down. For example, if TikTok is your main channel, consider expanding into Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, Facebook, email marketing, and your website.
✔️ Convert Paid Traffic into Owned Traffic
One of the smartest moves you can make is turning social media followers and ad clicks into subscribers you own; like email lists or SMS marketing. These are platforms where you control the audience, not a third party. This strategy has consistently helped my clients grow their businesses by 30% year-on-year over the past 15 years.
✔️ Start Today
Don’t wait for another outage or algorithm change to remind you how vulnerable your business is. Begin diversifying your strategy and building owned assets today.
TikTok’s weekend outage may have only lasted a few hours, but the ripple effects were enough to wake us up.
The digital world is unpredictable, but you don’t have to be at the mercy of someone else’s platform. Build a marketing strategy that’s diverse, resilient, and future-proof; your business will thank you for it.