Many of us have increased our use of social media as we obtain news updates daily (sometimes hourly!) about COVID-19.
One thing it proves is the power of social media to amplify a message. It’s easy to see the power it has and the speed at which it’s being adopted, check out your current social media feeds. Social media is feeding the frenzy faster then this virus can spread.
There are so many posts that are going viral (some are just hype and totally out of context) and the trending hashtag will likely be around for some time.
Like any other tool, social media has good and bad outcomes and we all have the power to control what we see, what we say and how we use it (to help or to hinder) progress.
Due to recent travel overseas, I’m in self isolation (not by choice). However, as I mainly work from home I’ll be continuing business as normal and trying to help as many people as possible with training and advice.
As a recruiter, you’ll likely need to make changes to how you do business. Here are some tips and advice on how to use social media to your advantage during COVID-10
- Communication on social media is vital– if your organisation has any social media channels, you need to be present and active on those pages. For example, I’ve just flown with Singapore Air for the first time. I had some issues with a bid to upgrade and seat allocation prior to our return trip. In 48 hours I sent 3 emails, multiple Twitter messages and tried to direct message on Facebook (which is only a bot) and 4 days later (and after travelling back home) have still not heard from them. What do you think the chances of me flying with them again are? This was a missed opportunity for them to step up and turn a negative situation into a positive, but they failed.
- Respond to messages on social media fast – now more than ever you need to be responsive. People need information in a timely manner so respond in a timely manner (within hours)
- Don’t rely on Facebook chatbots. In times of anxiety, you need real people to help NOT chatbots. When you have an issue that needs sorting, getting a chatbot is infuriating and also poor customer experience. Real issues need real people at times like this. We are not robots and don’t want to talk to robots. Thinking a bot will take care of your customer issues makes you delusional. People want real people to help them in this current environment.
- Changes to the way you are delivering your product or service – look at the current situation as an opportunity to get creative and look for new ways to deliver your products or services. What can be delivered virtually? Can you offer home delivery? Think outside the square.
- Create a Facebook group for your team for communication – if your team members are working remotely, they need not only the mental stimulation and interaction with other people but a fun way to interact with their peers. Sure, it’s not the same, but interaction helps keep your team connected.
- Create a LinkedIn or Facebook group for customers of certain segments – this is very relevant for travel and hospitality. For example, relevant updates and information for various countries, locations. The information in a group can be specific and relevant which saves viewers from having to scroll through a bunch of posts that aren’t relevant to them.
- Provide updates about changes to your business. If you’re changing the way you operate, let people know about it. For example, Dendy Cinema has been doing a great job updating members about changes happening in their cinemas
- Customise FAQs on Facebook – if you’re getting a lot of the same questions you can update your settings and manually set some FAQs, making it quick and easy for customers and candidates to get answers.
- Share positive messages and be mindful of how you’re impacting peoples mindset (your current team members, clients and your own). Most of us are fed up with all the negative doom and gloom. We now want to see positive news and funny things to entertain and show the light at the end of the tunnel. Imagine the impact it could have if everyone was positive and proactive.
- Use Facebook live to answer commonly asked questions or issues – you might be getting a load of the same questions from your customers, so use that as content and do live videos via Facebook to respond to these proactively. It will also save your customer service teams time in responding to enquiries.
Another thing you can do is to train your team on how to use social media more effectively and set up digital tools they can use to communicate.
Here are some other things to consider:
Calm Down – panic and hype help no one. Use common sense and think business as usual
Offer alternatives – how can you deliver your product in another way?
Visual and video – are important to get attention in an overwhelmed world.
Imagineering – Get creative. Look at this as an opportunity to evolve your offering
Double down on communication – keep your customers and candidates informed of changes, new products and check in. Relevant communication that is calm and positive is what people need right now.
Tanya Williams is the pink-loving, sparkly Chief of Everything at Digital Conversations. She wears many hats; entrepreneur, best-selling author, digital trainer, and she is a Social Amplification Specialist with over 20 years’ marketing experience. She works with recruiters to uncover the hidden gold in their existing assets, find ways to leverage every moment of your digital marketing without increasing your marketing budget and amplify your internal champions to increase your visibility. Her goal is to make the hero in your industry sector. She has a simple, no-tech-talk approach and thrives working with established recruitment companies to tap into the opportunities they might miss, using practical & relevant tactics to drive business outcomes.