How I Managed To Handle Disaster Control With Buffer

This is a guestpost and in fact incredible story from Eddy Weiss, CEO at Chasing4Life. When Eddy approached me and told me how Buffer has helped him, I was blown away. Here is his story, it is amazing:

It was a scary night and the sounds of sirens kept you and your family awake. Luckily, your home sustained minimal damage, but upon arriving at the office, you realize that the problem there is much larger. Trees are down, power lines are down, and it appears that a portion of the office building has been damaged and water has damaged much of the interior. It could be weeks before things are back to normal.

I have been using Buffer on my Twitter now for a while, and just experienced this first-hand last week when I was admitted to the hospital after a disaster response deployment. The minute I was admitted and found I would be in for a few days? I got online, filled my Buffer, and they rolled me into the I.C.U. 2 days later, not ONE client even knew I had been gone!

More and more, businesses are writing continuity plans for just such a scenario, and the obvious focus needs to be on back-up systems, communication and order fulfillment… but there’s a problem…

Preparing yourself for when things go wrong

You built this start-up company of yours from the ground up. You read every article, created a plan and your social media marketing campaigns literally built your customer base! How do you maintain that momentum while dealing with everything else? Half of the each day for the next week you’ll be trying to dry out your file cabinets while attempting to find contractors! Don’t forget, internet around town is going to be difficult to access as well.

Using social media marketing is all about connections and momentum. Each day, businesses experience success simply because they have used social media to build their customer base and they have maintained that customer base by faithfully keeping up a level of momentum.

Now, for the next two weeks, your FaceBook Page will be a ghost town. Your Twitter will lay dormant. Momentum is gone while you recover from last night’s storm. You could lose followers, lose business, miss connections and opportunities and worse yet, lose months of hard work.

My solution to keep the momentum going

As a disaster preparedness educator and emergency response consultant, I am continually looking for that one solution to problems like this. In order for something to be a solution in my world, it has to be simple, affordable and easy to use. Buffer is that solution.

While you are inundated with the daily woes of rebuilding, recovering, reconnecting, restocking, re-ordering and well, let’s face it, re-thinking, Buffer can maintain momentum for your company behind the scenes. Your customers may never know you took a hit!

During a recent hospitalization, my clientele never even knew I was “out-of-the-loop”. Simple instructions given to my assistant along with my Buffer account password kept my social media campaign alive for over a week! I’m a Buffer-Believer.

Why speed and responsiveness matters

According to the Business Institute of America, 25% of all businesses caught up in disasters do not reopen. Over the years, I have interviewed hundreds of business owners throwing in the towel after a disaster not because of poor insurance coverage, but because the thought of reconnecting with their clientele or customer base would “just take too long”.

Getting back to business after a disaster depends on preparedness planning today. Acquiring a simple Buffer account can secure your social media campaigning in the wake of a disaster and can easily be used by you in short bursts or can even be delegated to support personnel outside the disaster area until you are able to take the reins again yourself.

The folks at Buffer have created perhaps one of the easiest, most affordable business continuity protection tools available today without even knowing it. In a world that now thrives in a social media world, there is a way to stay alive even when the “real world” isn’t online.

About the author:

This post was written by Eddy Weiss, CEO at Chasing4Life. Eddy is an experienced disaster preparedness educator and emergency response consultant. You follow him on Twitter @Chasing4Life and find him on Facebook.