In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, people, communities, and brands are having to find new ways to communicate with one another. For every brand, the health and wellness of their employees and consumers has now taken on a sharper focus, but this does not mean that you should halt all social media posting, especially when it comes to engaging platforms such as Instagram.Â
When you are posting on Instagram during the Covid-19 pandemic, there are some tips you can follow to continue engaging audiences, to continue being purposeful and relevant, as well as keeping your lines of communication open during this time. Instagram is the ideal platform for engaging your audience because it focuses on visuals and video content, which is what consumers crave more during these difficult times.
Below we give some top tips on how to use Instagram to engage audiences during Covid-19.Â
Expand Services Digitally
One way to use Instagram effectively during this time is to expand your services digitally. The app has various different tools to allow you to do so, including Instagram Live (which is a live video streaming feature), Instagram Shopping (which allows you to make product posts shoppable), and IGTV (a “TV†or longer-length video feature).Â
Using these features, you can continue to remain relevant and provide consumers with what they love about your brand. You can offer a unique way to shop that eliminates the need to go to a physical store, provide longer educational videos about how to use your products, or have live videos where consumers can ask you about your brand’s method of dealing with the Covid-19 changes.Â
Connect With Your Community
If you are a brand that relies more on your physical store to connect with your community, you will need to change your marketing strategy to be more online. Instagram provides the perfect visual tool to do so. You can spread your brand’s message using the Feed feature or the Stories feature of Instagram.Â
In order to improve the reach of your most important messages, such as if you will be open during the Covid-19 lockdown period, you can invest in ads to do so. Instagram Stories are a highly effective way of connecting with your community. For example, you could post updates about your products, fun photos of your staff working from home, or even tips for mental health during lockdown.Â
Effective FAQs
If your direct mailbox has been flooded with questions about whether your business is still operating during the Covid-19 outbreak or what products will be on sale, you can answer these questions by creating an FAQ section in your Instagram highlights. You can create posts answering the most common questions to display in your feed, and reply to each unique question individually.Â
Another option for your business Instagram page is to use the Quick Replies option which allows you to respond to commonly asked questions with a pre-written response as quickly as possible. If you do not have the time even for this, create a Highlight post with all of the questions and answers, and post about this in your feed on a regular basis so everyone knows where to look.Â
Helpful How To’s
Content that often increases engagement and improves customer experience is How To content, which can be highly successful on Instagram. Not only can you produce live streaming videos of how to use your products during the Covid-19 lockdown (hairdressers, this one’s for you) but you can also create posts with multiple pictures giving tips and tricks that will remain in your feed even after this difficult period.Â
How To content can be used to promote your brand in a way that does not come across as a “hard sell†and can also provide positive engagement to your consumers. During this difficult time, entertaining as well as educational posts are seeing an increase in engagements, and you can use this to remain relevant while also helping your consumers.Â
Implement Instagram Shopping
Instagram Shopping is the ideal solution for small to medium businesses that want to continue business but cannot due to the lockdown and Covid-19. You can use shopping tags to make your content actionable or shoppable, allowing consumers to continue supporting your brand without having to wait until stores optn to do so.Â
Curate and create content that is relevant to the events occurring currently, such as essential products that will make their lives easier and more enjoyable. To implement an effective Instagram engagement plan during Covid-19, be sure to expand your services digitally, connect with your community using various features, and create FAQs for your audience. For an effective social media strategy, speak to the NetMechanic team today to find out how we can help you.Â
