CRISIS MANAGEMENT: CORONAVIRUS
Keep your audience (and yourself) calm, happy and informed with our marketer's guide to Coronavirus crisis management.
With the outbreak of Coronavirus across the globe affecting everyone in some way, businesses are struggling with how to make their marketing matter during this difficult time.
The last thing you’d want to do is offend your community and damage your brand’s reputation! To help tackle this, we’ve put together our top tips on how to handle this crisis in a world where social never sleeps:
CLOSELY MONITOR YOUR CONTENT
If you plan ahead with your content, it’s likely that some of your posts may not be suitable to share right now without receiving a backlash of comments. It’ll be especially hard for brands such as gyms and those within the travel industry to continue with the content they have.
We’ve been checking in on a daily basis for any scheduled posts and asking ourselves “Will this have a negative impact?” or “Can we continue with the same messaging but word it slightly differently?”. For example, a gym brand could share tutorial videos on how to workout at home instead, rather than encouraging gym visits.
In general, brands should be taking a step back from sales messaging to focus more on awareness.
KEEP YOUR COMMUNITY INFORMED
Like a relationship, communication is key when it comes to social media and it’s more important than ever at the moment. Right now, people just want to know what processes you’re putting in place to deal with the pandemic.
If it’s relevant to your business, even a simple tweet informing your audience of how you’re tackling this can go a long way. Check-in on your community management more frequently to ensure that you are responding to any concerns in a timely and empathetic manner. It can be at risk of escalating if you don’t respond quick enough.
This will help with your overall brand sentiment; it’s times like these where you can really raise awareness!
MOVE YOUR EVENTS ONLINE
People are now being advised not to attend public events with more than 500 attendees, so it’s likely your event has been or will be affected.
How your business handles this depends on the type of event you have planned. For example, if it’s a training workshop, this could be done through the likes of Facebook Live if you have a Facebook Group or, if it’s relevant to your community, on your Business Page. People will likely be grateful that they can continue to learn while they’re stuck at home!
RE-THINK YOUR ADVERTISING STRATEGY
Some of your pre-planned campaigns may not make sense right now and will likely be ineffective. We’d suggest shifting focus to your community and encouraging engagement.
One simple thing you can do is allocate budget for boosting any content that concerns the coronavirus and how it impacts your community. Trust us, they’ll appreciate how proactive you are – never underestimate the power of your community!
KEEP UP TO DATE
Twitter, in particular, is a great source for this, as you can monitor any updates through hashtags such as #covid–19uk or #CoronavirusOutbreak. You’ll find other businesses offering advice within the feed as well.
It’s an anxious time for all of us, but all we can do as marketers is manage our content, monitor our communities to keep them informed and stay on top of any updates. Stay strong, fellow marketers!
We’re offering free advice/support to businesses that need guidance on how to handle their online communities and social media channels during this time. Drop us an email at hello@sunshinecommunications.co.uk if we can help!