Nine ways you can stay connected to your customers during lockdown
Many business owners are afraid that the current lockdown and social distancing measures are harming the relationships they have with their customers.
And for the majority if businesses, they are. The lack of physical presence, be it a bricks and mortar location or online marketing such as emails, blogs, newsletters and social media, really does harm connection with customers.
At the same time, some businesses are leveraging this situation to the maximum and even managing to become even more connected to their customers.
So, to help you maintain brand awareness, and stay front of mind with your customers – whether they’re buying from you now or not right now, here are nine ways you can stay in touch with them, and software solutions that can help.
1) Social media posting: Post Planner
During these times, it’s important to post regularly if you don’t want your customers to forget about your brand or business (especially if you’re closed!).
Posting consistently will also have a good effect on how the Facebook/Instagram algorithm treats your page. So, in order not to forget about social media posts, use Post Planner to find top-performing posts and schedule their publishing in advance.
2) Design and visuals: Canva
If you want to present information to your customers in a visual way, Canva is the easiest way to create graphics perfect for business cards, promotional products, and social media content, even if you don’t have any experience. You can create unique social media posts based on ready-made templates when you’re out of ideas.
3) Writing and PR: Studicus
Creating well-written content is another great way to spark engagement with your customers. Touch upon some of the important questions of today – whichever industry you may be in – and try to start a discussion in the comment section. Make sure you reply to each comment because this will show your visitors that you care about your readers.
Here are some services that you can use for high-quality writing: Studicus (a marketplace for talented writers who can work on your content for you), Grammarly (check all your posts to make sure they are accurate and clear), SupremeDissertations (hire writers for content creation), SmallSEOTools (check how your content will rank in search engines).
4) Content scheduling: Buffer
Buffer is another social media posts scheduling app that allows you to sit down, do a lot of work for your pages and channels and then relax for weeks on end. It allows you to manage multiple pages on various social media channels, all from one account.
5) Live streaming: TikTok
The popularity of live streaming has gone through the roof in social distancing times. This is great for entertainment and engagement, but it also means you’ll be the hundredth brand your customers see on Facebook or Instagram Live.
To keep things fresh and interesting, use another platform for live streaming such as TikTok. Don’t forget to use some TikTok tools to help you.
6) Email newsletters: MailChimp + OptIn Monster
Did you see that avalanche of emails from company CEOs talking about how they are managing the crisis? That’s their way of staying connected to their customers. You can use the same strategy, but you don’t have to talk about the crisis at all if you don’t want to.
7) Online courses and classes: Udemy and Coursera
Many businesses decided to stay connected to their customers by offering courses related to their skills and services for free. Another alternative to this is to create a PDF guidebook or an eBook that will teach your readers valuable stuff related to your industry.
8) Coupon creation: Adobe Spark
If you want to make sure your sales numbers stay intact during the quarantine, give your customers another reason to shop. With Adobe Spark, you can easily create physical or digital coupons that customers will be able to use in your store.
9) Search engine traffic: Google My Business
Let’s not forget about staying connected to those lovely visitors who search for your business on Google! They probably want to know whether you’re open and what your working hours are, but with Google My Business (GMB), you can give them a lot more information and connect.
On GMB, the section that’s designated for information about your company can also be updated with text, images, videos, articles and much more. Make this section as attractive and as dynamic as possible to increase the likelihood of searchers contacting your business.
Make sure you stay connected to your customers – whether they’re buying now or not!
Thanks to technology, online services, and tools, it’s possible to stay connected to your customers even during the quarantine. At first, this may seem like a daunting task, especially if you’re managing multiple marketing channels. However, if you use automation and allocate your time and resources wisely, you’ll find that it can be fairly easy to stay connected to your customers during social distancing times.
Estelle Liotard is a professional writer working with essay writing services such as TrustMyPaper and GrabMyEssay. She is also experienced in running social media pages for businesses. Currently, she is in charge of customer support for BestEssayEducation and affiliated services.
Photo by Samantha Borges
