There have been a number of industries and businesses sidelined by the COVID-19 outbreak. I have seen a lot of companies pull back and hit pause on a number of their marketing initiatives whether it’s content, advertising, email marketing, etc. If you are a business that has been affected by COVID-19 and do not have the cash flow to spend on marketing activities, think about how to utilize organic social media channels to stay top of mind.
The reality is that COVID-19 although it will affect people and businesses for a long period of time, remember it is not permanent.
Businesses need to ensure that they are staying top of mind with their customers, and target market. One of the easiest and most cost-effective ways to stay present and active with your customers is through content marketing on social media.
Get Creative & Interactive on Social Media
Social media can be used as a tool to both create and share content to keep your business active during the pandemic. Even if you’re not selling anything at this point in time, it is important that your customers think of you as soon as things start to ramp back up again.
Shift Your Content Strategy
It is imperative to refocus your content strategies to remain relevant with the current economic conditions.
Honda changed its social media strategy to relate to the difficulties of the COVID-19 pandemic. They refocused their content and messaging to one of support for people and communities through their “Power of Something Greater” campaign. The campaign aims at highlighting their support efforts to food banks, meal programs, healthcare provider support and volunteer efforts by their employees. By relating to their audience, who aren’t buying cars at the same volume as the pre-COVID-19 days, they are staying top of mind and forming deeper emotional connections with their audience for when the economy bounces back and people are returning to work.
Get Creative & Engage Your Audience
If you’re a travel company, create photo contests on social media for your audience to submit images of themselves on their favourite vacations.
If you’re a hair salon, have your clients submit photos on social media showcasing their hair before self-isolation and social distancing vs. current. You can create polls from the photos to engage your audience. Find creative ways to try to keep your clients from cutting or dying their own hair, so that you remain a desirable first stop once lockdown is lifted.
If you are a business that is still selling, whether it be online or delivery, get creative and relate to your audience by putting yourself in their shoes. That is exactly what TOMS has done by promoting their indoor slippers on social media targeting remote workers.
If you’re a restaurant, consider creating organic content campaigns that showcase the meals that you are still preparing for delivery or pickup. Create virtual zoom backgrounds with images of your restaurant so that people can eat and drink together over video with visuals of your space. Use social media as a way to disseminate those images to your customers and engage with your audience as they do it.
If you want to take it one step further and create an even deeper connection with your customers, provide an email address on social media to be invited to your customers Zoom video hangouts and spend a couple minutes welcoming them to your virtual restaurant.
Now is the time to get creative and innovative with your content. Be the first place customers run to once the lockdown is lifted.
If you are a business owner or marketer, the next time you find yourself scrolling your social platforms at home whether it be Tik Tok, Instagram, SnapChat, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. take a look at what other companies are doing to use it as inspiration for your business.
Pivot your thinking and strategies as to how you market to your audiences during this pandemic and use content on social media as a means to stay top of mind without breaking the bank.