Creating content for your audience isn’t just a natural skill, it takes research, practice and experimentation to get it right. With the world in a lockdown crisis due to COVID-19, creating the right type of content could be the most important tool you have in staying in touch with and maintaining the relationship you have with your audience.
We know that our audiences are online still. Your customers may be in a different physical location but internet use and searches are increasing rather than decreasing and if your customers are active then you should be as well. Great content is all about having a conversation with your customers. So what should you be talking about right now?
Should I Talk About The C Word?
Inevitably some of your conversation and content will include the current crisis. It has to. Ignoring it would mean that you were ignoring one of the most important things in your customer’s lives right now, but your content shouldn’t just be about the C word itself. What value can you add with the content you create? Think about what problems your audience may be experiencing and how you can help them. Are their problems the same as they were a couple of months ago? Probably not so create new content or tweak your existing to reflect the change. As an organisation you are also being affected by it so be honest. If you are experiencing problems with delivery then let your customers know and manage their expectations. If you are recruiting and the procedure is taking longer, use your digital marketing channels to explain why.
Be Reactive
It is possible to be topical and reactive but still remain sensitive and in touch with your customers. Despite being a company that thrives and financially relies upon getting customers to experience the outdoors through sports, camping and an active lifestyle, GO Outdoors are doing a great job of this. They have fully embraced the limitations that they now have in a shift to their usual campaigns and recently launched a Go Indoors campaign and have even temporarily changed their logo. With imagery and video content encouraging their customers to stay indoors they are using their social media presence to stay in touch with their customers and to be a part of their conversation. They have reacted quickly and changed their content to reflect the challenges that their audience now face. Their #GOIndoors encourages customers to share their indoor adventures with a weekly prize and they share their customer’s content regularly.
Be Consistent
To be a part of any conversation you have to show up regularly. In real life you wouldn’t expect to be able to ignore someone and then just pick up a conversation two weeks later. Digital marketing and social media, in particular, are the same. You have to show up and be active on a regular and consistent basis. Even if you can’t currently sell to your customers you can still be a regular part of their feeds. Wagamama, for example, have closed all of their restaurants and are taking to social media with their Wok From Home campaign. Throughout the campaign they have been consistent in their message. Still great ingredients and taste, same emphasis on the importance of ingredients and flavours but their Executive Chef will be showing their customers how to cook it at home.
2 comments
Great Insight on social marketing. I am new to this, and enjoying every details.
good tips