Technology is not perfect. More and more digital marketing platforms are using bots, and ONLY bots, for customer service. This is ok when the bots work. But when they don’t, and there is nobody to fix it, it can be annoying…and worse…it can hurt your company. Here are 3 things you need to know to protect your company.
Thing #1: Using A Platform’s Native Code Generator For 2 Factor Authentication
When you work with Facebook Business Manager, which most of us have to as FB has begun to enforce it, they ask you to turn on 2 Factor Authentication (2FA). 2FA means that you have to generate a code every time you log in to Facebook on your phone or your desktop. Facebook has a code generator on the phone app to help with this or you can use a 3rd party authenticator like Google Authenticator (found in your app store). Do NOT use the FB code generator (or any platform’s native code generator). If you log out of the FB app on your phone you lose access to their code generator…which you need to login. This means you can’t log back in and the bots won’t help.
Solution: ALWAYS use a 3rd party authenticator like Google Authenticator (see Nerd Alert).
Thing #2: Do NOT Keep All Of Your Contacts ONLY In Your CRM
Mailchimp, Constant Contact, and other CRM’s are fantastic tools to use when automating conversations and marketing via email. Many times you can integrate them with your website and add people to your marketing lists automatically without having to do anything. It’s a dream! The nightmare begins when the CRM goes down or decides to delete your contacts for you via a glitch or a human error (ahem). If your CRM is the only place you have an updated list of contacts…you have now lost your contacts.
Solution: Download your current list monthly and keep it as an Excel or .csv file in your filing system. That way if something does happen you at least have a more recent list of contacts to re-upload into your CRM.
Thing #3: Do NOT Hire An Advertising Partner Who Won’t Use Your Companies Ad Accounts
Many times agencies will offer to run ads off their own accounts using their own pixels (data aggregation tool). What you need to know is that when an agency does this all of the information generated by the money you spend on ads is owned by the agency, not you. This means that if you let the agency go, you lose all of that data and have to start from square one. Data is how you make ads work. Constantly having to start over again from square one is how you waste money.
Solution: Find an advertising partner who will use your ad accounts and your pixels. That way you can gather data into your own account and run retargeted ads no matter whom you are working with.
Note: Some would say the agency using their own account has a lot of aggregated data that you have access to right away….but you lose it when they lose you. Also, the data they get from you they use for your competitors.
Technology is great when it works. When it doesn’t you can spend hours (and $$) in a rabbit hole of tech. These are just a few things to know so you can navigate the digital world safely and protect your company.
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