The thing we love about social media is that it shows the vast range of things everyone is doing – traveling, cooking, showing off art (whether that’s photography, nail, hair, makeup, music, flowers, etc.), communicating about issues, work environments, and kids and family.
Businesses have been heavily leveraging this effective medium for at least a decade now – if not longer, and in an unprecedented situation, we now are asked to curtail our social activities. It’s #Stay<bleep>TheHome.
What does that mean for industries that are focused on travel, cooking, and art?
The first thing you need to do is think through a yes-no scenario.
Yes, things are going to get better. No, things are getting worse. Though it sounds terrible (and no one likes a Debbie Downer), this allows you to pick and choose content according to what’s happening in an ever-changing landscape. And you don’t get boxed into a one-direction strategy.
We are now almost all on lock-down. The next bad case scenario is that 1) we stay on lockdown much longer than expected 2) People begin behaving badly and martial law gets enacted.
Best possible case scenarios are 1) WFH provides levity and personal opportunity, 2) things resolve quickly, and the economy rebounds.
So, based on that thinking how does your social look?
First, you are posting WAY less. One or two posts a week are going to be sufficient. This is practical since you won’t have new imagery, your staff isn’t readily available, AND brand traffic on social has crashed. No one is really paying a lot of attention to the things they can’t do (like travel).
Examples of best-case scenario posts are:
- Quick updates on the business – even calling out what some of your employees might be doing remotely.
- Asking questions – How are you spending your time? What are you working on?
- Offering a bit of Zen – Are you meditating today? Here’s an image/thought/etc. to add to your positive health. Helping your audience set intentions and push away the anxiety.
- Letting your customers know you are thinking of them.
- If you have the opportunity, do something fun like lead guided meditations.
- Or take a teachable moment – how to do nail art, best massage techniques, cooking from the pantry. YouTube channels are not that hard to set up if you don’t already have one.
- Bring back the ThrowBack Thursday UGC, and other (more generic) images that are still relevant. Mother Earth is flourishing in our neighborhood.
You should also be doing your social media manually. IF worst-case scenario happens – looting, for example – you don’t want your social to appear frivolously against news of civil unrest.
Sorry to throw that dark cloud out there, but it’s best to think about it in order to be prepared.