As a small business owner, it’s hard to navigate your social media at the moment. Milla from Pink Storm Social has put together a few points to help us during this unprecedented time. I have found it so helpful and hope you do too.
Acknowledge the situation and don’t avoid it
We know it isn’t business as normal because nothing about the current situation is normal so use this time to share how you are dealing and adapting, any initiatives you are taking, any inspiration you are seeing from other people, share it.
Be yourself, be relatable and be realistic
If its relevant post a statement from your company telling your followers what measures and actions you are putting in place and reassure them.
Keep showing up and posting consistently
Now is not the time to go quiet, if you ease off on your marketing communications in general you might feel the effects in 6 months time when hopefully we will all be looking to build again. Much better to stay active and present and ride the wave.
Engage with your followers in ways that aren’t too sales heavy
Be more human. If you have senior members of the team who don’t usually feature on your social media, give them a shout! Use your stories to ask questions. If you have followers from all over the world ask where they are located and how they are being affected. Go live to have conversations with your followers. Make your content as personal as possible.
Don’t be disheartened if you see your engagement levels drop
Naturally we are going to see more people posting on social media so we might see a slightly dip in our levels of engagement.
Check what you have scheduled – grid wise and advert wise
Adjust your language and tone of voice to fit the current situation, check all your content with a coronavirus lense. You don’t want to be caught out by a post you had scheduled advertising the best places to take children on summer holidays in Europe for example.
Use this time to try new things on social
There are so many online tutorials being offered at the moment for free. Take advantage and upskill. If for example you haven’t posted an IGTV before, learn how to and get cracking. If you sell products online use your Instagram stories a bit like QVC!
Use social media to find people to collaborate with
More than ever find ways to be helpful to your customers, think about adding value – what products do you produce that could make their lives easier. Are there some like minded brands you could collaborate with to produce an activity pack for children for example.
Try and gather as much UGC as possible
By UGC I mean user generated content. If you sell a product and a client sends you a photo of that product in their home, that is called user generated content. So ask your customers for photos of your products. If you sell a service ask clients for reviews and testimonials that you can use in your content. Now is the time to build trust in your brand and you do this by showing how amazing your customers think you are!
Don’t feel ashamed to keep “working” and selling your product or service people are still buying, let’s face it we are all going to be spending a lot more time online over the next few months so don’t see self promotion as a negative. There is no reason why you need to stop.
Stay positive, while the situation is beyond serious we have to keep lifting each other up
Milla Richardson
@pinkstormsocial
www.pinkstormsocial.co.uk
