Digital Marketing in Crisis

Right now, we are all in this together, digital marketing in crisis. We are all feeling the pinch COVID-19 is delivering, whether it is personal life or business.
Some businesses have had to shut during this time, and others have had to resort to just the online component of their business.
Unless you sell groceries, medical supplies or toilet paper (for some reason), you are probably feeling it. So what are we meant to do during this time?
Our number one piece of advice is, do not stop providing content to your audience. Do not shut down your social media channels and stop posting altogether! We alter, and we change our messaging during this time.
These tips below will also help you in the future if you have any other crisis within your business. It is all about communication, connection and transparency! Sometimes we have to leave our business ego at the door and just be open and honest with our customers, clients and followers!
Okay, so what does this look like?

Organic social media posts

During a time of crisis, use your social media posts to educate your audience. So this education process will look different for every business but look back on old messages from customers whether that be in email or via social media. What are the types of questions they are asking? How can you use that information to form social media posts to educate your audience?
Pivot your messaging on your social media to solely educational pieces. Show people what you are doing during this time and how you are coping with the sudden changes. This is also a good time to use survey tools to get your audiences feedback on processes around your business. You can share these to your social pages for maximum reach.
Use this time to continue to build a following. Instead of promoting what you are selling, post content around how your processes have changed in these circumstances and then use the time to educate around your business.
You have a higher chance of getting visibility during this time as more people are on social media platforms, so now is the time to build on the algorithm and generate more followers organically.

You are probably thinking right now, are you kidding? PAID, in a time like this? Of course, if you are not trading at the moment, it is hard to be putting money into paid advertising, but now is the time to build your email list.
Put in a low budget into promoting people to your email list, whether that is with a free offer or just straight to opting in.
If you are still trading online, now you can change your online advertising campaign not only to tell people they can still buy from you but also to educate them around the new process.
Be smart with your paid advertising! Maybe you need to educate people on how to buy online now? Or how you can help them during COVID-19? Tell them and put a small budget behind it to promote your business. Of course, do not exploit people and do not just use a COVID-19 paid advertisement if your business hasn’t been heavily impacted.
Be ethical, but also be smart!

If you have a blog or podcast, use this just like your social media posts (make sure they complement each other) to educate people during this time! Don’t be afraid to create content that isn’t there to generate money.
Now to also a great time to go back over your old content and repurpose it across your social media. Promote your old content, people now have time to read!
When you are creating more content, tailor it to educate your audience and to build a sense of connection. It is more important than ever to create connections with your followers. We crave it more than ever.

As mentioned above, connection to so important on a normal day, let alone during a crisis. Respond to messages, message your audience to ask how they are tracking during this time. Offer your customers a place to connect.
Whether that is through live sessions using Zoom or giving them something a little extra for free. The relationships you build for your business during this time will have long lasting impacts on your business in the future.
Some great examples of community connections? Gyms are doing live classes for their members and then are inviting non-members to join (good promotion for the future), and venues and customer-facing businesses are doing virtual drinks to bring people together. Be creative with what you do for your audience, they will remember.

During COVID-19, these tips are more relevant than ever, but if you are doing a crisis alone, you can still use these! Maybe your business was cyber attacked, or maybe you were caught up in something ethically wrong. The key is to shift your messaging, be transparent and think on your feet.
Give back to the community you have built as part of your business and provide the extra support to help everyone get through it.
Be creative and use this time to plan into the future. What can you change? What have you been doing for years that is no longer working? Always reaccess and make those changes you needed to make months ago.
The key, shift you messaging to help others, don’t do it to exploit them. If you need more clarity on communicating and providing content during this time, please reach out to us!
Please Contact us today! We are happy to chat about website design and how to create a successful brand on the Internet!