Everyone shares a common concern about how the pandemic is impacting business. Many are wondering, "How do I share important information with my clients or customers when we’re all working and communicating in new ways?" Here are 4 critical activities your business should be doing right now to stay in touch...

1. Keeping your website updated. Clients and prospects will be going to your website for information so make sure what's there is accurate. Plus, having a current website will give you something to link your social posts and emails back to.

2. Sending emails. We’re being bombarded with COVID-19 related emails right now. You can stand out from the crowd by providing recipients with information that is actually useful and meaningful to them. Whatever you do, avoid sounding desperate for business. Instead, try sending out some general interest emails while we're all stuck inside. People currently have free time to read blogs, join webinars, and learn new things. Be the brand that facilitates this for them.

3. Reaching out to individuals. As we said, using email to relay information to all of your contact list is extremely important right now. However, people in isolation are really craving human to human contact so consider sending more personalized emails to individuals as well. Better yet, hop on the phone or set up a Zoom video call with them!

4. Last but not least, posting to social media. In today's world, the fastest way to spread information is through social media. Any timely information you need to share should appear on your social media profiles right away. This is also one of the best ways to engage with prospects and clients right now considering all this communication can happen remotely. Here’s a breakdown of some specific things you should be doing on social media…

• If you have fairly consistent updates to blast out, try using Facebook/Instagram stories. This ephemeral content is much timelier, and the format is fairly casual, which allows you to put more effort into getting your messages out quickly instead of crafting picture perfect posts.
• Don't be afraid to tweet multiple times a day. This is another great way to blast out updates. You can actually start a thread on Twitter by responding to one of your older tweets with new news. Then people will have a live look at exactly how your messaging is changing.
• On other platforms, like Facebook and Instagram, you can edit your text. If something changes, go into a post and write “UPDATE” and then add the new information. This way, people referring back to your social media will always have the correct info.
• Stay on top of direct messages. You're likely to receive a lot of questions if you're posting about a lot of changes. Be ready to answer them. To help you with this, double check your settings across all platforms to make sure you're receiving notifications every time you receive a message.
• Encourage the engagement that everyone is craving. Finish text posts with open-ended questions, ask for people to share stories, and make sure you respond and react to all of the comments and replies that occur because of your encouragement. Social media communication should be a two-way street!
• Go live! Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube allow you to share live video with your audiences. This is a very personal way to connect via social media. All types of businesses are utilizing this tool right now, from gyms hosting live workout classes to camps hosting live singalongs. Seriously, these are real live examples we’ve seen. It’s time to think outside of the box and turn your camera on.
• Make sure your posts are interesting and useful, not self-serving. People are scrolling more than ever and they’re getting stuck in a loop of anxiety producing content and flippant content. Break the mold.
• Get on top of those social to-dos that get pushed to the bottom of the list on an average, busy workday. Update your cover photos, make sure your bios align with the messaging on your website, build out your Services tab on Facebook, that kind of thing.
• Do you offer any products or services that would be particularly helpful to people during this tough time, such as groceries or online consulting? You could advertise these so that a wider audience is made aware. If only current customers or clients see your unpaid posts you can only be so helpful since they already work with you and know how great you are.

This hasn’t been an easy transition for anyone, but it is possible to stay connected digitally. Really think about what you customers need to hear from your organization right now and any solutions that you can provide for them. That’s the information that you should be delivering to them, via your website, email, personal outreach, and social media.

This will help your business in the long run as well. Being proactive with good content proves that you are a thought leader in your industry. Even if customers and clients can’t currently take action and pay for your products and services, sharing information during this time will position your business to be top-of-mind once everything returns to normal. Until then, let’s all log on and do our best to help each other in any way we can.