How Can Your Brand Test Positive + On Social Media
9 ideas to integrate into your social media messaging during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, which would actually be fairly beneficial and considerably recommended at the moment, you are well aware and painfully up-to-date on the latest surrounding the global pandemic, social distancing, and #quarantine2020.
We’ve gone from ‘new decade — new me’ with a false sense of fresh ambition, to the daily rotation of WFH friendly fashion and silly social media challenges to pass the time. From push up challenges to digging up the first photo with your S-O to outranking Jake Gyllenhaal in a feeble attempt to put a shirt on while leaning upside down in your living room. We’ve come up with all sorts of ways to fill our days!
Now that physical interactions have become a law-enforced offence, screen-time has spiked and our values have shifted, in what seems to be overnight. People are turning to social platforms to satisfy their instinctual craving for connection as they search for raw, digestible bits that tell an authentic story that makes some sense of all the uncertainty and ambivalence floating around.
Right now only uncharted waters are scheduled for the foreseeable future. Scary for some, but for anyone in marketing or PR, it’s a brand’s equivalent of ‘the great frontier.’ There’s no longer an oversaturation of new ideas, readership and engagement are higher than ever and audiences are consuming content at a rapid rate. It’s basically the golden ticket for a brand to blaze a new path and standout amongst the masses.
As a result, businesses need to think critically and stay hyper-informed as they confidently pivot their campaigns, adjust the messaging in their editorial calendars and find ways to connect with their audiences, while marketing their products and services to meet the new needs of their consumers.
Essentially, the content that a brand is creating and dispersing onto the Internet needs to go further than consistent, high quality, and engaging — you know, all the cliché marketing buzzwords. Rather, digital feeds need to become platforms of empowerment that shift the dialogue, create value, and act as a refuge for the circumstances that the consumer is currently acclimatizing too. With a ‘we’re in this together — from a distance‘ attitude, you must come to the realization that your brand needs to shift it’s messaging in order to survive this trying time.
Here are 9 ideas that will give your brand an online personality, as you create new campaigns and content that will successfully entertain and communicate with your eager at-home audiences.
News and Updates
It’s no surprise; our news feeds have become a viral black hole of rapid COVID updates. Don’t over-do it, but ensure your followers are getting the latest up-to-date information that coincides with your brand and how they interact with it. This can be anything from launching curbside pickups or contactless deliveries to updates to your production, product offering, or the status of your business overall.
Show Support for The Community
If COVID-19 has taught us anything so far, it’s that we’re stronger together. Look at how you can tag-team social campaigns and giveaways, promote like-minded businesses, and share the positive stories from your local hood. This also includes sharing the bit that your brand is doing to strengthen, repair, and give back to the community in your own way.
Fashion + Home + Work Inspiration
Let’s be honest, staying home all-day-every-day with no end in sight is a challenge for even the largest extroverts. There are only so many ways you can style your 3 pairs of sweatpants and it’s only a matter of time before you begin to rearrange your furniture in every room and line up your spice rack for the sixth time — this week. Right now the world is craving inspiration, ways to make their home a self-care sanctuary, and tips to increase one’s WFH discipline. If your team is collaboratively working from a distance, show off conference-calls, WFH fashion inspo, desk setups, and what processes guys have implemented to have your brand running like a well-oiled machine.
Tell Real-Time Stories
Interact with your consumers, ask them questions, get their input, and share their stories on your feed. Right now the world is clinging to real-time content that is raw, heartfelt, and sentimental — no more glossy unrealistically perfect feeds. The more gritty, visceral, and emotional the story is, the better you’ll be able to convey a universal message of hope that lets us know we aren’t alone.
Tips on Physical and Mental Wellbeing
Don’t get caught in the quarantine 15! Sharing tips and tricks that people can utilize to stay physically in shape, while also looking after their mental wellbeing will transform your platform into a resource for self-care. This can be done by hosting an Instagram live and inviting experts to share their insights, or simply by showing how your team is staying active inside their homes.
Recipe Ideas
Now that everyone is stuck at home, we are all cooking three meals a day. Let us repeat — cooking three meals a day! By week two we were already getting sick of our old college standbys, so we don’t know how you’re doing it, especially when kids are involved. If your brand sells groceries, or food of any kind, providing new and creative ways to switch it up in the kitchen and cook up fresh (healthy) meals is a prime angle of content to run with. Keep it simple, tasty and fun!
Light-Hearted Spin-offs
COVID-19 is a global pandemic that is anything but funny, but as in all situations you need to establish arbitrary boundaries and find a reason to smile. Whether you’re posting a meme that plays on the light side of social distancing, not touching your face, or the hilarious camaraderie that is happening within the walls of our homes it’s important to keep it light, positive, and ALWAYS empathetic. Remember, your followers are all experiencing this situation differently as some have lost their jobs, are caring for their loved ones, and might even be sick themselves.
Offer Education and Professional Development
If you’re not working on enhancing your career right now, well you should be! Now is the time to take those courses you’ve been meaning to take, read a book, or somehow add value to what you offer as an employee or even business owner. As a brand, if you can offer your audience education, workshops, courses, or consulting services, consider offering them at little to no cost on your social platforms. This isn’t to undermine your worth, but it’s providing your consumers with a value-add incentive to fall in love with your brand and the products or services you offer.
Show Team Spirit
Take a page from Air Canada’s book! Show your team working together and spread the message of hope that everyone is doing their best and we’re in this together. The virus doesn’t discriminate and we’re all scared — just like you!
