What COVID-19 Taught Us About Social Media

Confession time. I hate to say it, but it took a pandemic to get businesses focusing on building relationships over social media. Truly social media is built to connect people – to connect friends, to connect family, to connect co-workers, and to connect businesses to their customers. Too often businesses use it as a sales tool. Don’t get me wrong, we want to show the benefits of our product and how awesome we are, but if I’m being honest, when users are on social media they want to hear about people. So what does this mean for your social media strategy? Do you need to shift gears? Let’s dive right in!

What should I do right now for my social media strategy?

Show what matters to your customer. Right now it is important to educate your customers on how things might be different for them to set expectations. Social media is a great place to do this. Will turnaround times be longer? Will meetings with sales reps look different?  Are there new offerings your customers should know about? How can you educate your customers about your industry? Keep it about what affects your customers rather than trying to sell them something.

Keep it real. We’re all in this together! Pull back the curtain to show that you can relate to your customers on a deeper level. This helps put a human aspect to your brand making it easier for users to connect with and trust. 

Be the Support for both current and potential customers. The more real and connected you are to your customers now, will benefit you long-term. When all of this is over, you will have built up their trust and your business will be the obvious choice when they are ready to buy. 

Reconsider your social media ads. Depending on your current ads, you may need to shift gears. Focus less on selling and focus more on support and how you can help your audience to meet them where they are at. Maybe you have a product or service specific to COVID-19, showcase it!

What should I do as a long-term social media strategy?

Continue to pull back the curtain. Showing the employees and behind-the-scenes aspects of your business puts a human element to companies that users really enjoy. These types of social media posts help to increase engagement – thus expanding the reach of your post.

Continue to support your customer. Even before the pandemic, users didn’t want to be sold to on social media. They used social media to connect with people. We need to continue to show them what they care about and add an education component on features and benefits of your business, not just how cool your product or service is.

Keep engaging! Keep 2-way communication open with your customers. If a user comments on a post, comment back posing a question or another way to keep the conversation open. This continues to build rapport with your audience.

If you haven’t caught on, social media strategies during COVID-19 really shouldn’t differ too much from what our strategy should be in the future. Keep it less about selling and more about educating your audience about your offering and the industry. Display that you are the expert and when they are ready to buy, you’ll be remembered. And don’t forget, if you’re not getting the traction you’d like to see on your social platforms, we’re here to lend a hand.