As a small business, often the first thing to cut back or reallocate are marketing funds. But in today’s all-digital, all the time world, that’s not the best move. Today people are social distancing from other people, but they’re not social distancing from their devices. Seriously, think back to when in the last few weeks you were more than six feet away from your phone? People are being left to their own devices, literally, and that means more attention is there regularly throughout the day, which gives you more opportunities to provide value to your current clients and customers as well as attracting new prospects.

The kings and queens of creating more opportunities are small businesses who get scrappy, become resilient, and proceed to pivot!

I’ve seen a dance studio that’s been around for 40 years create an exclusive virtual dance studio for their students that included dance technique classes, combinations, and activity pages for the tiny dancers. They’re also offering free instruction via Facebook and Instagram live to reach their current dance community and potential prospects for later. They focused on their audience and bringing them as much value as possible in under a week!

I’ve seen a local restaurant with 9 locations be innovative and creative by repurposing their water carafes to sell “at home happy hours” with to go Margaritas. They’re focused on their customers who feel like family by providing them ways to enjoy their cuisine while also being safe.

These local businesses are woven into the fabric of our community experiences. They haven’t stopped posting on social media because they had to close the physical doors temporarily, they’ve leaned on the digital resources available within social media and beyond to engage their communities in different ways.

The commonality here is these local businesses care. They expressed their appreciation in a relatable and human way by showing up for their customers, and in turn, their community of customers shows up for them through sharing content, growing their audience, purchasing gift cards, leaving reviews, and more!

I would love to hear your stories of small businesses leverage the power of digital tools and social media to pivot in these uncertain times. 

What these businesses did right is they pivoted, they didn’t overthink, they focused on connection. Through this connection, they showed stability rather than succumbing to fear, which in today’s marketing lens is a refreshing approach. They focused on executing and providing value to their audience. That is what all social media should focus on doing in the future (and honestly, what it should have always been about.) I covered how this was a significant take away for me during Social Media Marketing World. You can read more about what I learned at this conference here.

Why You Should Still Keep Posting To Social Media During These Uncertain Times

1. Social media is not an on/off switch

To win at social media, it takes consistent effort over time. If you’re looking to build traction on social, you have to keep showing up, sharing your story, and being relatable to your audience. If you were to go radio silent on your audience right now when your audience needs you most, are you serving your audience well? It’s your duty to share your brilliance and expertise with the world. 

Think about it like this, if you were to stop posting right now, it’s like slamming on the breaks in the middle of an open highway…your entire social media reach stalls, and it takes more time to get it rolling again and gaining momentum. Momentum in this analogy is eyeballs…)

2. Eyeballs, Lots of Eyeballs

This goes back to my earlier point, people are paying attention to their devices. They’re seeking news yes, but also their seeking connection, positivity, compassion, and solutions to problems (even if that problem is boredom, hint: entertain people). When creating content, put yourself in your audiences’ shoes and know that they may wear several pairs of shoes in a week. 

Maddening shoes on Monday, Totally Over This shoes on Tuesday, When is it Over shoes on Wednesday…you get the idea. And maybe some days they’re sporting their Positivity Pants as well. Please just craft content with intention and empathy during these times.

3. Give Attention to Analytics 

You pivot your strategy a bit and take time to do content sanity checks; you’re going to want to track your analytics and evaluate, what content is resonating with your audience in this current climate and what is flopping. Measure what matters. 

For example, if you see an uptick in video views, do more video and perhaps poll your audience on what they’d want to see from you next. Yes, you should be doing more videos. If you’re seeing a decrease in engagement from your normal cadence of content? Tweak the number of posts you produce per week and reevaluate. Test and tweak, test and tweak. Having awareness around content performance numbers should help drive future content decisions.

Tip: It may be time to revisit and adjust your social media goals (KPIs) a bit as well. The-end-of-the-year you will appreciate this expectation adjustment!

So instead of pulling the plug or pressing pause, stay the course. I do recommend doing a sanity check on your content, launches, promotions, advertisements, etc. You again want to show compassion in light of our temporary situation. Perhaps you could add more education elements to your offer, or offer special help to customers. Get creative, stay compassionate, but please do stay the course.

For those of you who are ACK I know Karlyn, I get it I have to keep showing up for my audience, but I don’t know what I should be sharing, I got you in my next post…stay tuned, boo!

In the meantime, if you want to get going now, I’d love to brainstorm some content ideas with you in this current climate. Book a free 30-minute Oh Snap! chat here. Let’s keep social, social! Talk soon, friends.