As small businesses face tough decisions over surviving the economic fallout from COVID-19, social media is the best tool to stay connected to customers whether the doors are open or not.
Go Live
Going live on Instagram or Facebook will send a notification to followers, unlike a regular timeline post. And, in a reality of isolation, going live allows customers to see and interact with a friendly face.
Here are some prompts for going live:
- Education – Educate your customers on new products, how you make your products, employees, processes that set you apart from the rest
- Announcements – If you have to adapt your business operations to local, state, or federal guidelines, walk customers through what to expect from you
- Behind the scenes – Though the doors are closed, you don’t stop working. Show your customers what you’re doing to make sure the business is ready to go once you are able to welcome them back.
Grow your Following
If you experience increased downtime, us it to grow your following with these free tricks.
- Instagram & Twitter – Follow everyone who follows you back. Users care about their follower to following ratio. Sometimes, not following back can increase your chances of being “cut.”
- Find new followers – Follow people who follow related accounts (eg. your chamber of commerce, the local dance studio, local schools), and clue them in to your profile and business.
- Facebook – Make sure you’ve invited all your friends to like your page. Maybe you’ve added new friends since you first set the page up?
Giveaways
During times of financial uncertainty giving product or services away for free sounds counter-intuitive. However, if you set your giveaway up properly, you will see an ROI down the road. Here are three ways to make sure your social media giveaway is worth it.
- Choose one platform at a time (Instagram or Facebook)
- Write your rules and guidelines out on a separate word document so you can accurately copy and paste in multiple posts (if relevant)
- Make sure your rules include following, liking, and tagging a friend in the comments on the giveaway post. Following will increase their likelihood of seeing your content again. Liking the post will increase it’s performance in algorithms, especially on Facebook. And, tagging a friend so that other potential customers can hear about you from a trusted source (their friends).
To increase the reach, and therefore ROI, of your giveaway, try partnering with other local businesses who may have customers similar to yours. Setting up a “chain” giveaway has a few added steps, but it will help you target your local customer base.
Free 30-minute consultation
Finally, we understand the strain this unprecedented situation puts on small, local businesses; that is why, pandemic or not, we always offer a free 30 minute consultation. During these calls we provide brainstorming, advice, and strategy to help you stay connected with the people who matter most — your customers.
STEPH SANS LEE 