Having a plan is important.

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If you own a business, or you work for a business that is currently not open or struggling due to the COVID-19 quarantine what can you do to help? Sitting on your butt on the sofa watching hour upon hour of Netflix you are probably also scrolling through pages of social media content as well. There are a lot of things you can be doing without even getting up.

Employees

First off, if you haven't done this already, contact your employers, ask them how they are doing. We are all struggling to cope mentally, physically and financially, check in with them, they will appreciate your interest. We are all humans after all.

Next, ask them if they want anything from you regarding social media, for example, you could offer to do the following:

  1. Invite your own Facebook friends to like the Facebook page of the business you work for.
  2. Make a video saying “Hi to the customers”. If you are a hairdresser, or a chef, or produce or create something, why not make a short video showing some tips? One of the clients I have is a restaurant and I asked a couple of the employees to offer to teach cocktail making and simple dishes in the kitchen, the videos were fun and loved by the people who follow the page (Check them out on Facebook, they are Restaurant Verico and the staff´s lessons are brilliant). It helps a lot for the business to share information and helpful content with their followers. Your contribution helps and it is fun for you to see the comments and likes when your video is posted.
  3. “Like” and comment on everything that the business you work for posts, sharing it helps as well. All interaction that you make with the page helps it to be more visible to more people, and it helps your employer to feel that they are reaching people.
  4. Take a look in your old photos on your phone, do you have photos of work and work-related events, clients or workmates you could send to your employer that they can use on their social media channels? All content counts, some can be golden for getting that extra bit of traction that businesses need right now. You’re probably using social media a lot more right now so why not help out the business you work for, they need you.

Businesses

Building a social media following is not an immediate fix, but whatever you have right now, you can improve on it. If you don’t have a Facebook or Instagram page, a YouTube channel or a blog, then now is the time to get on with that. You can begin with very basic tools and grow from there. Don’t ignore the more traditional media like newspapers such as the Majorca Daily Bulletin and the rest of the Serra Group, not only do they print daily but a lot of their articles, such as this, go online as well. The potential reach that traditional media has these days has grown immensely since they embraced online publishing as well. If you have a newsworthy story for them, get in touch with them, or me. Good news is great in particular, but don’t forget, with every news story you need at least one decent, in-focus photo. If you’d like a guide to “How to do PR for your small business” then drop me an email to hello@phoenixmediamallorca.com and I will send it over.

Get organised, it is time to work!

The key to successful social media is to “Tell, don’t sell”. Don’t use your channels as a way of only advertising your product to your clients. Use your channels to ask for feedback, run competitions, share insights and stories, connect, it is after all “social” media. One way is to make yourself a content calendar to help you with ideas and guidance for what to write as the biggest problem I come across with clients is them not knowing exactly what they can write about. Again, if you need some help, get in touch with me as I have a couple of calendar examples.

It's all there in your hand!It's all there in your hand!

Another thing to think about is your brand. If your brand was a person, how would they talk, what would they say, what are their intrinsic personal values? What do they like and not like, and how does this connect to your ideal customer?

Ask yourself these questions

  • Who are my existing and potential customers?
  • What kind of experience are they looking for?
  • How do my top competitors market their brands?
  • What is my brand’s unique value?
  • What problems does my product help to solve?
  • What makes it a better choice over my competitors?
  • How can I highlight my brand’s personality?

Finally, you will need to think about your “content strategy”. This boils down to figuring out what content will help your target audience and inspire them to take actions that boost your business. Doing that successfully requires melding together some moving parts. To name just a few, you need to set goals, research your audience, and map out how buyers will interact with your content. But that is for next time in this content strategy masterclass.

Are you inspired to write a blog, it can add a lot of value to your website SEOAre you inspired to write a blog, it can add a lot of value to your website SEO

For now, begin with this: audit what you already have, what posts worked best on your social media and why? Is it time to think about that YouTube channel you wanted to set up or that blog you wanted to start? How can these things either help you express something creatively or make you money or better still, both? We are now in the era where everyone has access to these tools, it doesn’t take much to start, what you need is an idea, the energy to execute it and the determination to see it through. You can find me https://www.facebook.com/PhoenixMediaMallorca/ where I will share more info about how to get your social media firing on all cylinders. Let’s get this road on the show!