What do I post on social media when everyone has just one thing on their minds?

It’s a fair question. Never before did the whole world share the same life-changing experience at the the same point in time. It feels like it’s all people talk about, and I guess that is true to an extent. Because even when we think about other things - our business, our exercise, our food shop, our social lives - it’s all in the context of lockdown.

So it is understandable that when something so all-consuming is happening, you might feel there is nothing to really add to the conversation on social media. Or you feel nobody will care about your perspective or your products or your experiences.

Well my friend, I’m here to say that is not the case.

But before I go into that and answer your most pressing questions about what to actually post on social media, I want to make it clear that there are actually more important marketing questions you could be asking yourself right now.

Before you get carried away with social media

The disclaimer I will put as a preamble to this blog post is this: if you are finding it hard to know what to post on your social media, it is because you are not clear on your purpose, audience, and/or strategy.

“Post on social media” isn’t a strategy, it’s a tactic. Your marketing strategy is the foundation upon which your marketing activities are based. It encompasses your purpose, your key messages and clarity about the people you are trying to engage and how they behave in relation to your business.

If you are at all fuzzy about any of these elements, deciding things like what to post on Facebook (or whether to post on Facebook at all) is much harder. But once your strategy is in place, your marketing becomes a lot simpler, easier to execute and effective.

For example, say your goal is to complete a food shop for your family during lockdown, it would be much easier and effective if you knew: who you’re shopping for, including their preferences and size of appetite, how much money you have to spend, which supermarkets are most likely to have in stock what you need, when you can get a delivery slot and so on.

So if your goal is “have regular content on my social media”, then by all means crack on and post whatever you like. But if your goal is more strategic, e.g. get the right people to remember my business when all this blows over, or support my existing customers as they navigate this turbulent period, then I’d recommend you spend more time on your strategy rather than blindly and incessantly posting content on social media.

What to post on social media during the pandemic

OK, so you’ve read the disclaimer and you still want to post on social media? Here we go then. For most businesses, the best approach would be a mixture of the below.

Be you

As always with marketing, take inspiration from lots of places, but never ever copy others. It’s boring and people see through it. 

This is the time to really tap into your values and the things that make your business unique, and share that with the world. Just because your competitors are approaching this pandemic in a certain way, doesn’t mean you have to do the same (after all, we’re in uncharted territory and there’s no “right” way of doing this anyway). Show up as you.

“You” can be a challenging concept on social media. We all have many different facets to our lives and personalities, and when you are a one-person business, the lines become blurred. How do you know how much of yourself to share? Do people care about what you have for lunch or what you get up to on the weekend?

This is where taking the time to plan a strategy and answer these questions ahead of time really helps. Rather than having to make a decision about each post or trying to apply a “work filter” to your posts, once you have a plan in place it is easy to know what works from a business point of view and what doesn’t.

And don’t feel like you are being false by only sharing some of your life. Just because you are showing up on social media in a professional capacity and you don’t share party pics or photos of your kids or holidays doesn’t mean you are not being you. It just means that you are sharing one side of yourself - and you can share that in a way that is rich and authentic. 

Honesty and openness

People are craving authentic connection even more than usual (and they are spending a lot of time on their devices looking for this connection). 

Don’t shy away from allowing people to get to know the real you on social media. Maybe now is the time to give an insight into your non-work life if you don’t usually, or share even more of you than you would usually. You don’t have to keep up a front; nobody expects you to be unaffected by all of this. And people are genuinely interested in what others are getting up to.

We’re all dealing with something extraordinary. Shared experiences make us feel closer to others, and will make people feel closer to you.

Once again, share how much you are comfortable sharing. You don’t have to give people a tour of your house, but you can share a picture of your workspace. You might not want to share pictures of your homeschooling exploits, but you might want to share what books you are reading, or the notebook in which you are journalling, or something beautiful you spotted while out on a run.  

Read the room

Your tone is always important, but even more so now. You really need to make sure you pitch your content at the right level (see how it helps that you know your audience?).

Yes, the pandemic is a grave situation and a grim topic. That doesn’t mean you need to turn your social media feeds into something sombre that refers to it constantly. Unless your business is directly related to fighting the pandemic, you don’t need to keep your audience informed about the latest Covid-19 stats, for example. Likewise, go carefully with the memes. Gallows humour shared on Whatsapp with your best mate will unlikely go down well with the general public, especially as the weeks go by and more of us know people directly affected by Covid-related deaths. 

You can be informative without harping on about the grim realities, and you can be entertaining without offending.

For example, I have really enjoyed how Sarah Laker from Stationery Supplies in Marple has been sharing ideas for parents to keep everyone busy with crafts on Facebook, and how my lovely gym Seven Movement offers live exercise classes for kids at 4pm every day (my boys much prefer this to Joe Wicks!). A brilliant local photographer, Aurelie Kennedy from Little Toad Photography, is doing a fantastic creative project where she takes photos of families through their windows to capture life in lockdown. Seeing these photos really lifts me up - it’s a great example of content that is about the lockdown, but positive. And one final example: my lovely client Paul Jardine Web Design rightly identified that what many small businesses need to do now is switch to online offerings, so he collated a bunch of useful info on his site to make this easier for them.

Selling

I know it can feel awkward to promote your products. Perhaps you worry people might think you are frivolous or cynical to sell your products. 

Sure, there is financial uncertainty for a lot of us and people are primarily concerned about getting their basic food shop and other necessities. However! That doesn’t mean they don’t also need/want other things: birthday presents, little treats for themselves or others, something to make their lives easier. Add to that the fact that some people just really still want to support independents!

So if people want to buy, why shouldn’t they buy from you?

You don’t need to resort to gross selling tactics to try to get their attention. I’ve seen plenty of that behaviour. 

I Saw It First came under fire when they ran a promotion where they offered a free bottle of hand sanitiser to the first 1,000 customers. Subway in Canada apologised after one of their franchisees offered a face mask with every two sandwiches they sold. 

Ew.

But don’t let these great examples of bad marketing put you off. If your priority remains with helping people and serving their needs rather than preying on their fears, you can keep showing them your products and services without shame or weirdness. 

In fact, if you feel awkward about selling, revert to my point about honesty and openness. Perhaps by continuing to sell, you are able to keep your business open and so ensure continued income not just for you and your family but also for your suppliers or employees. Or by continuing to provide your service, you keep sane. You can tell people about this without feeling like you’re playing the sympathy card. Whatever your motivation, you absolutely can share this with your audience.

Customer service

Be clear, be upfront and anticipate your customers’ needs. Use social media to show to them that they are your priority, and communicate pandemic-related decisions or changes in your business in a clear and timely way. 

If your shipping times are affected or you’ve changed your packaging methods, if your supply chain capacity is affected or your diary is suddenly wide open for Skype consultations, tell your audience about it. People will be looking for this information anyway, so make it easy for them.

By taking people along on the journey, they know where they stand with you and they feel cared for.

It’s good to talk

Social media is meant to be a dialogue, but too often we are too busy or self-absorbed to really use it in this way. What proportion of your social media efforts usually consists of broadcast as opposed to genuine dialogue and engagement?

Use this time to connect with people. Find new people to follow or deepen the connections with your existing audience. Level up from a simple like and actually take a minute to comment on the posts you enjoy. Ask questions. Respond to Stories. Tell someone their feed brings you joy.

It’s also a great time to try talking to camera. Not only will people be glad to get to know you a bit better, but now is a great time to experiment with your social media (people tend to be more forgiving at the moment!).

Share the good vibes

Pay it forward by shouting out those businesses that are getting you through this time. 

Perhaps you’ve had an amazing takeaway or veg box delivery. Maybe you admire how a local business goes out of its way to keep the local community fed. Whose exercise videos, podcasts, books or homeschooling activities are keeping you sane?

Show your support publicly!

Strategic social media marketing 

So now I’ve given you some ideas about things you can post on social media during the pandemic. But I want to go back to my initial disclaimer about the benefits of a marketing strategy.

If in the past you said you just wing it with your marketing because you don’t have time to think and plan for a strategy, maybe see if you can find the time now. Winging it with marketing will only get you so far. If you dream about marketing that feels simpler and easier, and works better, then you need to invest in your strategy.

Knowing your core messages and the people you want to reach, and planning your marketing accordingly, is 80% of your marketing effort. And now is the perfect time to really nail that. 

If you want help with this, I can help in a few different ways (see my Services), but a great place to start is the workbook Good Marketing in Bad Times, which I wrote to help small businesses navigate marketing during the pandemic.