COVID-19: A strategy to stay connected

And while keeping customers and staff informed is vital, promoting a sense of togetherness and shared responsibility has to be at the forefront of your mind. Here are three things every business needs to consider to stay connected through the challenges ahead – and the power of the telephone comes right at the top of this list.

Keeping the conversation going

Few mediums can beat the personal touch that the phone gives you – especially now face to face interactions are severely limited. In a recent LinkedIn post, Simon Sinek emphasised the importance of calling and speaking to each other. He makes the case that we’re all social animals, and without the opportunity to stick your head in a friend’s office and ask how their weekend was or spend 5 minutes in conversation with the person over the counter, we need to revert to the tried-and-tested methods of connection – the phone.

With the phone taking on even greater importance as a platform, telephone messages are a highly effective way for businesses to keep both long-time and potential customers informed about new opening hours, any changes to the way you work, and key details they need to. More than simply updates though, it’s the perfect way to unite your messages across all platforms, and show callers that they’re not alone during this time of crisis – you’re right there with them, communicating loudly and clearly.

Closing the gap on social distancing

Social distancing has changed the rules of social media for businesses. With much of the population working from home, our screen time is through the roof, and that means more time spent scrolling through Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn. As a business online, you need to be much more considered about what you’re putting out there. The first thing to remember is to drop the fluff and focus on the essentials. What do people need to know? What are they searching for? Creating helpful content that answers questions is exactly what’s needed right now.

Putting community first

Right now, doing what little you can to support your community and our key workers will only have a positive knock-on effect for your business. Xfinity took to Twitter to announce they’re keeping people connected by making all their Wi-Fi hotspots accessible free-of-charge, and also pausing all additional charges on their data plans. Clearly, helping in whatever way you can is not just the right thing to do – it can also create big online engagement. And with less chance for genuine social interactions, sometimes doing whatever you can could be as simple as that – encouraging engagement.