Utilizing Social Media In Your Reopening Strategy
It’s been a treacherous year, but both business leaders and patrons can finally begin to feel that normalcy, or at least some sense of it, is finally on the horizon: time to plan for a full reopening of your business! But before you open your doors, pause and think about how you want to return to business in this new normal – and how to communicate that to your audience.
Consumers are increasingly positioned to seek out feelings of safety and security as they start to return to an in-person economy, and with the world pivoting online for so long – and staying there for about a year – it would do you good to consider how to best leverage social media to ensure your business has a powerful and meaningful reopening strategy!
- Communicate How You Mitigate Risk and Ensure Guest Safety
Consumers have grown more cautious of brands prioritizing profit over genuine human experience, and the quickest way for them to see that is the way in which businesses communicate the safety measures they’ve taken after such a trying year. Before you start posting about new products and incentives, have you clearly communicated what you’ve been doing and what you will continue to do to ensure safety? Similarly, have you made guest expectations clear about what you’re asking of them to ensure other guests’ safety?
By including this in your reopening strategy, you manage expectations upfront before consumers ever walk into your business. If you’re clear in your social media efforts to communicate how you sanitize your store and how often, if and when masks are asked of your guests, etc., you don’t have to worry about someone missing a tiny sign in your storefront window that says, “Masks required.” It alleviates stress for you, re-introduces your audience to a brand that prioritizes safety, and reminds them that the customer’s feeling of wellbeing is paramount – all vital to a successful reopening campaign.
- Make Your Reopening an Event to Follow
If you’re lucky enough to be in business after such a trying year, then your reopening deserves a celebration! And it’s not just for you – it’s a great way to incentivize consumers to check out what’s new in 2021!
Build momentum with Instagram Stories that have a countdown feature, creating a Facebook event so your followers can RSVP, and more. Show us a behind-the-scenes video of what your team has been doing to create an amazing reopening. Combine our first step by making safety precautions a major part of the momentum, always reminding your audience that their safety is your biggest priority. Additionally, this could be leveraged to feature new products, a new menu, new store hours, etc., that consumers may have missed. Keep the creativity flowing and the content engaging! It’s sure to be a win-win for all!
- Remind People of the Joy and Humanity of Your Business
Needless to say, the past year and a half made the vast majority of us depressed, discouraged, and downright saddened. It’s time to offer your audience and consumers everywhere a necessary pick-me-up by bringing the joy back to your business! Something as small as a safe and fun photoshoot at your business, in which your employees or guests are having fun at your venue are a major win.
This also does an important job of bringing humanity to your business before a consumer ever walks in. You’re reminding them how important coming together is, and how much happiness experiences like this can offer people. This year is the time to be straightforward and human in a new and refreshed way. Especially after countless peoples’ lives have been turned upside down and backwards, consumers are more conservative with their spending and will put money behind the products they can really get behind.
That being said, look to find the humanity in your brand and bring it into every part of your reopening strategy. Share videos of your team members, highlight the journey of the people working for you, create more videos in general, and find an authentic and genuine tone of voice that feels true to your brand but sparks interest in having consumers return to your business.
- Go Live, and Go Live Often
One of the greatest perks of social media is that it allows people to tune in at any given moment for live events. Simply by pulling up their Instagram or Facebook, consumers are instantly transported to a place without ever leaving the comfort of their home. Consider all you could be showing your audience before, during, and after your reopening!
If you’re able to do an in-person opening, build that momentum and then, come the day, host a live Instagram or Facebook stream. Show the line stretching around the corner, capture guests’ excitement, interview the employees and have them express their excitement. And if you’re not fully reopening, consider a weekly livestream to simply check in on the reopening process or how things are going. Any and every one of these steps allows audiences to re-engage with your brand and get excited to see it for themselves when the time is right!
If the past year and a half has taught us anything, it’s that social media will continue to evolve quickly and change constantly. And although it’s simple to make a business account, it requires some serious investment to analyze the relevant data points and leverage all it has to offer for a successful reopening strategy. Don’t worry if this sounds overwhelming! Commit to a powerful and meaningful reopening strategy by outsourcing to the experts, and contact Influence Digital Solutions today!
