Maintaining an active social media presence was important pre-COVID-19, however, in the wake of a global shut down, a strong social media presence is now vital to your business’ survival. Now is not the time to burry your head in the sand and wait for things to return to normal; as communities slowly begin emerge from months of isolation, businesses will be faced with a new normal, and those who learn how to adapt will be the ones who survive. Social media has been a means of staying informed and connected throughout months of quarantine, and how a business uses social media today can shape the future of their business.

Stay Connected

It is important through these difficult times to stay connected with your clients and customers. Having a strong, clear message can help reassure your consumer base that your business will continue to provide the same high level of care that they have come to expect from you. Now might not be the right time to bombard your customers with sales and promotions, but instead offer messages of support, let customers know that you are open for business (or details about when operations will resume), that you are reachable, and details about what your business is doing to adapt to accommodate social distancing and other safety protocols.

Promote Your Online Business – But Be Empathetic

These are tough times for everyone, and this is important to remember that when promoting your business online. If your business has made changes to be able to accommodate a larger online selection of goods and services, utilize social media to let your customers know – however don’t use COVID-19 as a means of promoting your business. Consider opportunities to promote online purchase promotions in ways that encourage engagement from your followers, such as photo challenges, BOGO gift offers, and giveaways. To help encourage online purchases, consider offering free or reduced rate shipping, or making contactless pick up an option.

Provide Something of Value

Providing something of value to your community could mean many different things to many different businesses, depending on your particular skill set. This is not an opportunity to promote your goods and services, but rather an opportunity to give back to individuals and businesses in your area. If your business is particularly tech savvy, consider social media tutorials on how to better operate a remote work environment; if you have discovered a creative idea on how to provide in-person services, consider sharing. By lifting each other, we can help lift our communities and our businesses up too.

Tweak Your Content

If you already had a marketing plan and an SEO strategy in place, now is the time to review that plan and make adjustments where required. Post content that is informative, relevant, and useful to your target audience – even if that content isn’t directly related to your business. A landscaping company could post links or articles about easy care DIY planting, a nail salon could offer at home manicure tips, or a cleaning service could share a blog on their favourite cleaning tricks.