Russia Bans Social Media: What Small Businesses Need To Know

My news feed is full of stories about Russia banning social media. Just last week, the Russian government blocked Facebook and yesterday, Russian authorities blocked Instagram. This is not something new or unexpected. Russian authorities blocked LinkedIn in 2016, throttled access to Twitter in 2021, and blocked Facebook on March 4 of this year -- all of which has had a hugely negative impact on Russian small business owners.

So what does that mean for you?

As I have for the past 20 years -- after surviving social forum bans on a much smaller scale -- I recommend you build the foundation of your business on your own website. This way you will be able to control your content and who has access to it. 

How does this work?

How to Protect Your Website Investment

Your social media accounts should be used to generate traffic back to your website. Run a contest to attract followers? Make sure winners have to sign up for your mailing list, too. Offering a free special report? Make sure your followers have to register an account on your site to gain access? 

Yes, you will have fewer people sign up -- but the people who are willing to jump through a few hoops to get what you have created for them are also more likely to spend money with you when you're offering a product or service for sale.

Then, when your customers are buying your products or services, you will be able to reach out to them through your email marketing system to let them know about updates, new products, or other relevant news. 

I also strongly suggest you diversify your traffic generation methods. Don't just rely on Facebook or LinkedIn. You also need to optimize your site for search engines and find smaller sites in your industry to link to your site through writing guest posts or being a podcast guest.