Marketing in a time of COVID-19 - Best Practices for Social Media

Times are changing and I have not yet decided if they are changing for the better or worse. Being in the marketing field for the past 8 years, I can say that this is truly an odd time to be in. Some businesses are thriving while others have closed. Online shopping and grocery delivery have increased, toilet paper has been a hot commodity and some stores have arrows showing you the direction to walk, one-way, to encourage social distancing and eliminating overcrowding. With life in general becoming difficult, you can only imagine how marketing in a time of COVID-19 can be.

The past few months I have been able to see how companies have adapted to COVID-19 and wanted to provide some recommendations on how to incorporate COVID into your marketing without pushing a personal agenda.

I have decided to put together some of the posts and Ads that I have seen on social media these past few months to display how to market or promote your product or services through COVID-19 - during times where people are not spending as much money, changing their spending habits, socially distancing and wearing masks, and adjusting to a new "normal".

I was on Facebook about a week ago and I saw an ad for ClientPoint. I have never heard of them before but wanted to share their ad. Although their ad is longer than I would like, text-wise, it hit on pain points and truth. It discussed how Sales reps can't meet with their prospects and how companies are working from home for the first time. I can't say how they are as a company but I thought this was a great example of how to market during COVID.

There are plenty of things you can do to build your brand, promote and educate on COVID, offer free resources, and not spend a lot of money. Running a Facebook Ad similar to this is a beginning point. 

Our local library offers "Library Curbside Service" and I thought this was genius. The library is doing this during certain hours throughout the day. Once you arrive, you can text or call the library to let them know that you have arrived. That way, someone can come out to you rather than you going inside the building. They also provided free resources throughout the stay-at-home-order.

Even comedians like Trevor Noah realize the struggle of homeschooling and kids adjusting to doing school work online. 

There is a women's clothing store in Texas called Sweet Bee Boutique and Desserts and Roxy is the owner. Her posts are always so funny because they are so relatable. During this time, most of the hair salons have been closed so people are unable to get their hair cut or done. Some of us are doing our hair at home. And others, like Miss. Cinnamon, just know they have wild hair days.

Even if you don't have a marketing budget due to budget constraints, it's free to post to your social media pages. Or, like Roxy, you can also post to a group that promotes your products and services.

Things to post about when marketing during COVID:

- Discuss or talk about emotions or pain points
- Enable humor if or when appropriate
- Don't say "I" because that pushes a personal agenda - remember you are posting from a company page

- Provide free resources or focus on services that people purchase or want the most

- Solve a problem

- Keep your core values in mind before posting and don't just share something because it is trending

- Use empathy and sympathy when needed

- Donate, focus on the community

- Continue to stay connected to your customers

I want to know your thoughts and opinions. Are there any posts that you have seen from a company that has done an excellent job during the COVID-19 crisis? What about things that you wouldn't do or you didn't like? Do you have any specific questions about marketing? Let me know in the comments below! I would love to hear your thoughts.