Digital Marketing Tips During COVID-19

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This pandemic has greatly impacted everyone – businesses have been forced to shut down, store supplies have been low in stock, and the economy is taking a big hit as well. As business owners, directors, and marketers you’ve probably experienced some sort of decline in business.

As Marketing experts, we always recommend that you do not discontinue all your marketing efforts. Every day matters, because each day is an opportunity for you to connect with your target audience. Not just to push a sale, but to actually connect with the audience that has been there for you; now it’s time to return the favour.

Our team at Bold x Collective has put together a list of different tips and ideas you can use to continue marketing your business during COVID-19.

1. Social Media is Crucial

As business owners, we are lucky to have social media, especially during a time like this. As of January 2020, there are 3.80 billion social media users online, so it is critical you are taking full advantage of the platform that best speaks to your audience. We’re all affected in different ways by not being able to go out and socialize in the world – maybe your favourite bar has shut down or you can’t hang out with your friends on the weekend; maybe you can't go to your weekly skincare appointment; maybe the gym is closed and you are missing out on your daily workout. Your audience is being impacted in one way or another, so it’s time to think outside the box about how to relate to them without being too aggressive with sales.

Now is the time to connect with your customers that are in need of an escape from the world we are all experiencing. Everyone is on their phones and tablets; they are all on social media, so this is your chance to connect with them and maintain relationships with them during this pandemic. We currently have several clients dealing with this and we have put together a variety of campaigns for them to help engage their audience and keep them up-to-date, from video marketing, to charity campaigns, Instagram challenges and much more. The options are limitless; you just have to be creative and strategic to connect with your audiences in the right way.

2. Create Relevant Content

To elaborate on social media marketing and staying connected with your audience, it is key to create engaging content. As we discussed earlier, it’s important to create content that builds an on-going relationship with your customer, without being too promotional. This is a very effective way for you to remain in touch with your customers during social distancing and isolation.

As we mentioned above, there are so many businesses that are being impacted by this. Own a gym that’s been forced to close down? Bring the workouts to your audiences using IGTV! Have a restaurant that is not currently having customers dine-in? Apart from offering takeout, have your staff put together a quick 30-60 second clip that shares a simple recipe your audience can try at home. Working in a spa that cannot provide clients any services during this time? Share some ‘DIY’ tips and create fun challenges that they can keep up with on a day-to-day basis. The options are only limited by your creativity!

Here is a list of ideas you can try:

• Take advantage of video through IGTV, Facebook TV and YouTube.

• Q&A’s are always fun! Do this through videos or even stories on Instagram or Facebook.

• Online Tutorials are a great way to get people off their couches and in a more positive mood. Try sharing how to’s like cooking, dancing, building something, doing a workout and so much more.

• Share throwbacks of older content in the form of videos and photos.

• Participate in charity initiatives and share them with your audience through social media.

• Share some positive messages. We are all going through this together, so we need to support each other. Create an optimistic graphic, maybe make a video of you sharing some tips on how to stay positive during this time.

• Share graphics with ideas of how people can stay safe and protect themselves during COVID-19.

• Take advantage of Instagram/Facebook Live and do live videos of workouts, cooking and even random chats with your customers, to keep them in the loop and involved.

• When creating Instagram stories, take advantage of stickers such as the “Stay Home” sticker, which helps increase the number of story viewers.

The secret is to think outside the box.

3. Create a Special Offer

During an uncertain time like this, provide your customer base with a special offer or discount. Many of your loyal customers or potential customers are sitting at home using their smart devices, browsing, shopping through different products and services they can find a deal on. This is a great way to engage with your customers and not only keep your doors open, but keep revenue coming in.

4. Search Engine Optimization

While most wouldn’t think of working on SEO at a time like this, this is the perfect time. It takes SEO some time to kick in, so taking action now will help in the future. For those that don't completely understand SEO, essentially, it is the art of optimizing not only your online content, but also your website structure and technical background. It helps you organically rank higher in organic search engine results.

We always tell our clients that SEO is so important. 93% of website traffic comes from a search engine, so it’s time to step up your game.

Some initiatives that can be taken to improve your SEO during right now include:

• Creating written content: Most companies that we’ve spoken with in the past often say they don’t have the time to create written content. But now that so many of us are at home, there is an opportunity to pursue this initiative. You can finally start that blog on your company’s website; something exciting, useful, informative and engaging. This content can be optimized for search engines. Along with creating written forms of content, you'll need to make sure you have the right keywords. What is the point of creating all this content if nobody is even seeing it? It should be a priority to find the top keywords that your target audience is using to find content that is relevant for them. There is obviously more written content apart from blog posts; you have page titles, meta descriptions, header tags and images with names (and alt text). These words all matter when it comes to SEO.

• Optimizing for mobile if you haven’t already: 87% of smartphone users use search engines at least once a day and 61% of these users are more likely to contact a local business if they have a mobile-friendly site. To optimize for mobile, you need a fast website. You need to make your website easy to read and navigate, even on mobile, which is a much smaller screen size. You don't want your viewers to have to zoom in to find things on your website; make it as simple as possible. And don’t forget to be straight to the point.

• More online reviews: Step up your local SEO strategy by optimizing your website for "near me" searches. Get some positive reviews on your local profiles, especially your Google profile. Reputation management is so important during this chaotic time. Currently, Google My Business has temporarily suspended publishing online reviews, but people can submit them regardless, and they'll publish when Google My Business returns back to normal.

• Taking advantage of video: Did you know that by 2022, online videos will make up more than 82% of all consumer traffic? Find a way to include video on your website. Personal, engaging, helpful and relevant content will help you climb your way up search engines. Also remember to optimize your video by using relevant keywords in the description and headlines of your video.

Some of these SEO tasks can tackled within your company, but if you need assistance and have the budget, invest in an SEO campaign. When we beat COVID-19, you want leads, you want revenue.

5. Create a Google Ads / Facebook Ads Campaign

If you are currently offering a product or service, it's important to let your customers know that you are still open and running with safety precautions in place. If you feel like you are not getting the message across, one way to do so is by creating a Google or Facebook Ad Campaign. This is the most efficient way to reach potential customers.

As mentioned above, we highly recommend pushing some sort of discount or offer to intrigue your audience, especially during a time like this where people are still purchasing products and services, but are trying to save money.

Conclusion

Yes, we are going through a difficult time as humans and as business owners, but just like we’re going to beat COVID-19; you can beat the negative impact of it on your business. There are still many opportunities to connect with your target audience by staying active online.