- Create content for your Facebook, Instagram and YouTube Channels.
- Build a website and grow it with shared content and SEO campaigns.
- Add an e-commerce function to your website and make use of social tagging, Facebook catalog feeds and Google shopping.
As the global pandemic grips Australia and Australian businesses, we as business owners and consumers need to adapt to the changes and the economy.
As a consumer, we can try our best to support our local businesses that don’t have the backings of public floats and banner companies. I am talking about the mum and dad stores in our main streets. The local mechanic. That kind of thing.
We can do this not only by using them to buy products and services from, but also by creating content and tagging them in it. Content such as checking in on social media pages, doing a review of your experience, or just mentioning them to your circle of friends to get their name out there.
As a business, we need to address the issues facing our customers such as a changing and uncertain economy, as well as social distancing and isolation.
We can do this by offering our services by phone, email or website enquiries. We can also offer contactless service options if available such as a pickup and delivery service.
Are people going to be struggling to pay for you product up front? Is it worth offering split payments through credit providers like OpenPay, Zip and Afterpay?
As I always say, think about who your audience is, and now more than ever, try to understand their concerns when spending money and using your services.
In Australia, our economy and many industries are taking a huge toll when it comes to spending and income generation. As a business we need to minimize our costs, reduce wastage and spend only on the things that will help grow our sales or branding.
If you are quiet, I would recommend using this time to focus on content creation. That could be videos, guides, blog posts for your website, social media photos, upcoming sales content, and working on things that you may normally not have had time to address, like your website!
A good website needs to be kept up to date with fresh content added regularly. When it comes to getting ranked on search engines, we need to not only focus on our own content and layouts, but also external links such as guest posts, testimonials, social links, directory listings, press releases and anything that helps us show authority in our field.
Whilst this is a very bad time for our population and economy, it can be the time we need to finish all those ‘one day’ jobs. Update your website. Post on social media. Take photos of your products. Update those staff photos online. Read through the reviews on your Google business page. Make a video about the impact of COVID-19 on your business. Showcase what you do and the outcome of dealing with your brand.
If you are making videos and taking photos, why not involve your staff? They’d love to take a break from sanitizing your shop I reckon. Staff all at home? Why not get them to come up with some ideas for content whilst they are working from home.
The economy will pick back up, but whilst things are quiet, it might be a good time to create the content that you can use when it is ready to kick back into gear.
At the very least, I recommend sticking with your current advertising, but possibly just reducing spends, or pausing campaigns. Don’t undo all the hard work you have done thus far. Think about saving on setup fees and new campaign content.
To those who need help with their website, I am more than happy to discuss options with you and answer questions when it comes to what can be done to update your web presence, improve your socials, or what kind of content you can work on.
I am only a phone call or email enquiry away. Just jump on my website at drivesocial.com.au
Now, on the topic of websites… We spoke last time about whether or not you need a website. The same question is raised with online advertising whilst COVID-19 takes hold of our economy.
Don’t just do stuff because others are. Spending money on advertising and a website could not only be a waste of budget, but could also create the wrong idea about your brand. If you’re pushing sales while the economy is struggling, you will just look like an arsehole. You need to be careful about what you post.
So when creating your content, think about when you plan on using it. Is it now, or when things get back on their feet. Are you updating the website to make it easier for people wanting your products now already, or you just trying to push more sales in people’s faces?
Right now, focus on creating content that is helpful to people. If your product or service is not an essential or staple of today’s society, I would recommend not trying to sell, rather to show how you are helping in this time of crisis, and also how your brand is affected by the crisis.
People are emotional beings, and social media makes it very easy to sway people’s opinion of your brand. It can just as easily go negative rather than positive. So be careful and plan ahead.
If you already have a website, and your product or service is something that is still selling or is an essential service, then consider perhaps boosting your reach through social media advertising or search engine optimization. Make sure you get found when people search, and, with more people working from home or in quarantine, I am guessing there will be a whole heap more online searches.
Take advantage of social media. It is one platform that people will spend more time on as they get bored in isolation. I am predicting a rise in crazy Tik Tok videos, or YouTube vlogging about quarantine boredom or fun, and heaps more fake news and silly photos on Facebook. Wouldn’t you agree?
Just remember, as a brand, it is great to share some humour, but make sure it isn’t offensive, discriminatory or crude. There is also a wrong time for some humour. If anything, get a second opinion before posting.
Ok, I hope I have given you a couple ideas of things to work on while we work through this COVID-19 situation. If I can be of assistance with your website, SEO, marketing or social media campaigns, do let me know.
Stay safe everyone. Wash your hands. Don’t hoard toilet paper, and most importantly, remember we are all human and in this together. Be nice. Be kind. And respect others.
Until next time. Dave out.