What Businesses Can Do Online in a Time of Coronavirus

coronavirus-pandemic

There’s no denying that ever since the coronavirus outbreak grew into a global pandemic, business, as usual, has become impossible in many countries around the world. With some countries on lockdown and other national governments urging their citizens to stay at home, it’s clear that businesses cannot operate the same way they did before.

That’s not to say, however, that businesses can’t do anything at the moment. For example, we’re still providing our SEO services, albeit differently given the current situation.

On the contrary, despite the internet being currently filled with news on the current situation, there is still a lot of businesses can do to retain their online presence while still responding to the changes we’re all currently experiencing.

Pause on Everyday Content Unless It’s Relevant

There’s nothing wrong with continuing to post your usual content, especially if you’re one of the essential businesses, retail stores that are still open, or a blogger that’s trying to entertain people that are currently shut in their homes. As long as your posts are tactful regarding the current situation, there should be no problem regarding publishing content.

The problem, however, is that unless it’s directly related to the situation right now, you shouldn’t really expect that much traction from your posts. It’s difficult to promote everyday content when your audience is focused on news on the pandemic and the effects of it.

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So, if you’re posting a full-length article on your website or are posting new products or services that isn’t really relevant at the moment, expect that not a lot of focus will be on you. And that just ends up wasting the effort you and your team took to making those posts.

We recommend putting a pause on major announcements and posts. A few blog posts is OK, but if you really want to make the most out of more major content, it’s best to wait until the situation improves.

Post More on Social Media

With more people at home, chances are that many of them are spending more time browsing social media. If you’re going to continue posting, do it on social media where the chance of reaching your target audience is much larger.

The good thing about building a social media presence is that you have the option of publishing on a variety of topics. Posting on your business page doesn’t necessarily have to be 100 percent product or service-related.

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You can publish posts meant to reach out to people at this current situation, like telling people to stay inside or wishing everyone safe. It doesn’t necessarily boost your products or services, but it does boost your online presence by being on their feed because of your active posting.

Take Advantage of the Deals Now

Because of the current situation, plenty of businesses are temporarily closed for an indefinite amount of time. As a result, a lot of B2B businesses are also losing revenue, hence you’ll notice why many of them are trying to convince their target market to buy their products or service through discounted deals.

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If you’re in a position where you can take these deals, you should grab them while the opportunity is there. For example, Facebook CPMs are reportedly down 75% while Google Adwords is much cheaper because of the changing trends in searches.

Another way to use social media and ads to your advantage is to drive more content and get audiences to join email lists. Like I said earlier, audiences may not be interested at the moment, but building your list now means that there are more people to reach out after the pandemic and you can continue sending out content to reach out to them.

Prepare for the “New” Normal

Most of us would like to think that once a vaccine or treatment is found and the world starts to flatten the curve, everything will go back to normal. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you see things), while we’re currently trying to keep everything as normal as we can, it’s unlikely that things will ever really go back to being the “old” kind of normal. Instead, we should prepare for what many are calling the “new” normal.

When this all ends, most of us will be back in the office, eating in restaurants, and going back into public crowds without fear. But there will be something different: for some, it could be a sense of caution of their surroundings that wasn’t there before; for others, it’s a relief and appreciation for what had been missing for so long.

In this new normal, more people will continue to search online for things they’ve always searched for. But expect that demands will be different and businesses need to adapt accordingly. So, at the moment, it’s best to prepare for what lies ahead and what may be your business’ “new” normal marketing strategy.

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