Marketing Tips under 10 min (Tips under 10)
Marketing through a Crisis – Where to update your business information
As we gear up for reopening our businesses to the new “normal” and then eventually to our “normal-normal” — we took notes on how quickly the information changed from March to today. Some businesses had to shut down completely, others have adjusted their businesses slightly to continue, and others have completely reinvented their business to offer a whole new suite of services. These services may have been ones that were never thought of before as possibilities or we didn’t have the time to make them happen! Now we are forced to move outside of our normal comfort zones to be creative in new business solutions.
Now we balance working from home to working in a virtual environment with others (which can include both coworkers and clients/customers), to also keeping kids at home if you have them, all while still trying to run your business.
Keeping up with the changes of COVID-19 information, current, new and adjusted services you offer, and making sure that all of your customers know exactly what is going on with your business can be a daunting task.
Although you want to keep your information as updated as you can every place you market your business, this is nearly impossible at the rate of which information is changing.
Here are 3 starting places to keep your business information updated:
1. Your social media.
Your social media can act as a landing page for your business and right now there has been an up to 40% increase of social media activity. Keeping your social media updated is really important to your current and potentially new customers. 
Facebook has created an updated setting under Edit Page Info, near your hours called Temporary Service Changes. Here you can change your services to No Changes, Temporarily Closed or Open with Service Changes.
Another important update is not only your posts, but your banner image in Facebook. Banner image changes rank well in Facebook, but they are also the first thing that people see when they come to your page. This is the case whether they are recommended by someone in a group, or they did a search for some help with a particular issue. This is your Facebook landing page, and it needs to be as updated as possible.
The reason for social media updates is not only for your customers to know, but also for Facebook and other social media to understand that you have adjusted what your business is offering, so that they can continue to rank you the correct way. Facebook and other social media like updates and it can show that your business is actively changing and growing to help your customers. Facebook wants to show updated information and the information that your customers want to see – so it is a win-win!
2. Google My Business.
Your Google My Business listing can be an amazing tool for SEO, or search engine
optimization. Google has some power there… but it has also given businesses a platform to update their information.
As soon as you enter your Google My Business dashboard, the first block that is looking at you is “Stay connected during COVID-19” and it asks you to make sure your hours are updated and that you create a COVID-19 update post.
After making sure that all of your information is correct (not just your hours), you can click on the posts tab and it will take you to a page with different post options. Although it is always good to post on your GMB listing at least once a week, it is important to post under the COVID-19 updates. Why? Just being active on your listing is a good idea, but when Google releases updated information grabs like this, there is a good chance that this particular information will be ranked better than others.
3. Your Website.
Although this seems like a no brainer, it is easy to get caught up in all the places you are used to updating your information like your social media. This is also likely a place that you have to reach out to your web designer to change for you – generally making it a little bit harder than updating yourself.
We have seen many different ways to keep your website updated but Singing River Healthplex in Mississippi, is doing a great job of updating more than their homepage. 
- They have a pop-up on their homepage.
- They have highlighted their online classes and added to their homepage.
- Under Class Schedule, they have links to Facebook, YouTube, their Online Classes.
- On many of their pages, they relate back to their Facebook page for the most up to date information letting people know where they can find the most updated information.
You should really consider updating every place you are marketing your business, but these 3 places will at least be a good start as you work through your list.
To conclude. We are all in this together and are adjusting the best we can to our own circumstances, but always remember to be genuine and kind because there are a lot of things out of our control. Remember to always welcome questions from your customers. This is a very confusing time for them as well as you. Greet questions with a positive attitude and be ready to be helpful. People really do want to support small businesses during this time and are also worried about you and your business!
#marketingthatfitsnaturally
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