Social media marketing during COVID-19

In principle, social media marketing is beneficial to businesses for a number of reasons. These range from using these platforms to connect with audiences, build brands, drive website traffic and more.

With the COVID-19 pandemic, many businesses will be turning to social media platforms to connect with their customers and increase sales through these channels.

If you’re new to social media marketing, read this blog post on how you can improve your marketing techniques using free social media platforms to help give your business a boost!

What is social media?

Social media is a series of online platforms that are used for sharing information, images, videos and other forms of content between individuals.

While the purpose of social media was initially focused on personal relationships and communication between individuals, over the years, many companies – both large and small – have started adopting social media platforms to help them carry out their business more effectively.

The rationale behind this is simple: engaging with your customers on social media can boost brand awareness, promote your products and services, boost sales, and ultimately drive traffic to your website.

What are the benefits of social media marketing?

For businesses that are hard-pressed with cash flow concerns during these times, one of the main benefits of using social media platforms for your business is that it’s free. There are a variety of platforms – Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and more – and using them for your business is free of charge!

Another benefit is the fact that you can get detailed reports and analyse your audience better. Armed with this information and useful statistics, you can be better positioned to offer your customers content that they will find most beneficial. Remember that in social media content (and video) is king!

A third element of social media marketing is that you can improve your visibility and thereby stimulate improved brand awareness. Remember that these days, many people follow brands for ethical, financial and other reasons and they’ll want to identify with your brand before making a purchasing decision. Therefore, by using social media, your visibility online can be strengthened and you can improve your reach and hence, your sales. 

And last, but not least, is the fact that you can stay in touch with your clientele. Address negative comments as soon as they appear on your page and show your customers you are there for them in these difficult times. This can mean not only addressing negative reviews, but offering something special to them during the times of the pandemic.

This move will increase customer loyalty, keep you in good stead with your customers and ultimately help you with your sales.

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The different social media platforms

Facebook

Facebook is one of the most popular social media platforms. As with the rest, it is free to use and you should use it to connect with your audience by providing quality content. With this platform, remember to keep your copy short and to the point while at the same time being as catchy as possible.

Another aspect to keep in mind is that most social media users utilise social media on their mobile phones these days, and short, punchy messages are what will grab their attention rather than long winded messages. Facebook allows you to use video, images and copy to share your content and as mentioned above, video is king, so don’t hesitate to post short videos to promote your products and services.

Also use the ‘stories’ feature to emphasise important news or developments. With the need for copy to be short and to the point, remember that your message should encapsulate the most important elements of your news as you convey it to your customers. 

Instagram

Instagram is an image sharing platform and if your products lend themselves to beautiful imagery, this is the best platform for you to promote them.

This goes for clothing outfitters, restaurants which serve delicious meals and are now offering them in takeaway or delivery form, hand-made crafts, jewellery, cosmetics and a range of other products.

Writing copy for Instagram is optional, but you should consider doing so because this will help you explain your offering to your customers better.  

Twitter

The Twitter channel is another social media platform and can be used in a variety of ways. One thing to remember with this channel is that it is limited in characters in terms of the length of content you can publish.

This means you have a limited space in which to convey your main message. Despite this situation, you still have a chance to reach audiences if your copy is catchy.

Use Twitter to advertise promotions, sales and to give your customers discounts. Another way of using it is to promote and announce company news.

Twitter also lends itself to sharing blog content and videos, so if you have a newly-published blog post, don’t hesitate to use Twitter to promote it.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a professional platform that was originally created for sharing professional work experience and gaining professional connections.

However, this platform has also evolved and many businesses are now using it to convey important company information to their audiences. The tone of voice used in LinkedIn should be on the professional side.

Here, using humor is not the most appropriate strategy and you will want to convey your messages in a more formal tone. Use LinkedIn to promote your blog posts or latest company developments, so that your audience can keep abreast of changes taking place.

Final thoughts

During COVID-19, many companies will be taking their business online.

Whether building a website to accept payments online for sales and purchases made, or using social media strategies and channels to promote your products, there are several ways for you to utilise social media platforms to your business’ advantage.

The most important aspect is that they are free to use and if you promote your message well, you’ll not only keep loyal customers loyal to you throughout the pandemic, but you’ll also be able to draw in new clients to help your business function optimally.