How many times have you heard it? The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted lives, businesses, and markets—which is typically followed by a line about life never returning to the way it was before.
Those are two concepts that many of us are only just now beginning to wrap our minds around on a personal level.
But on a professional level it's something we need to address immediately as our brands reopen for business and we test-drive marketing techniques designed to drive sales and profitability in "the new normal."
For marketers accustomed to employing the iconic sales funnel model, developing new strategies is going to take some adjustment. The tried-and-true approaches we relied on in the past won't necessarily cut it out here on the new frontier.
That's not to say we're going to need to rebuild everything from scratch. Fortunately, there are some ground rules that address marketing to a post-COVID marketplace.
Let's look at six of them and see what steps we can be taking now.
1. Have a plan
Get together with your team to develop a reopening communications strategy that addresses the concerns of all of the company's stakeholders: from your returning employees to vendors and even the local jurisdictions that may be monitoring the reopening process in your locale.
Keep an eye on what your competitors are doing—and, in some cases, work with them so that the greater good of your industry as a whole is served.
2. Communicate with your customers
It's seems basic: You need to communicate with your customers. But we've seen businesses slow down their communication efforts during the pandemic. Some have abandoned their social media streams altogether.
Whatever your particular circumstance, now is the time to ramp up your customer communications. Be transparent and timely with the specific details behind your reopening. Let them know the Who, What, Why, When, and How of your reopening, including any new safety rules you're mandating for in-person transactions. Let them know their safety is your priority and you welcome them back.
Then, communicate this message across all your channels: email lists, social media accounts, your website, press releases, anywhere else you can think of. Customer will appreciate your candid and transparent outreach.
3. Bolster your social media efforts
Since the pandemic began, your customers have increasingly relied on social media and their electronic devices for everything from news and information to staying in touch with friends and family. They're now in the habit of checking their feeds more often, so take advantage of that and increase the frequency of your posting.
But an important tip: don't flood them with promotional material and make it all about sales. Consider posting helpful content that refers to the pandemic—and steps you are taking as a company to make their experience as customers a smoother, safer one.
4. Enhance your digital customer experience
Serving your customers is not the exclusive realm of a 1-800 call center; customers have come to expect assistance through the various channel through which they can reach you. Which is why you need to initiate or expand the capabilities of social media chat services.
In some circumstances, it may mean introducing face-time capabilities through a Facetime, Zoom, or similar tool or feature. Customers have gotten quite comfortable using such platforms—whether talking to colleagues at work or a relative residing in an assisted-living home, or through telehealth services provided by local healthcare providers.
The pandemic has pushed a lot of holdouts to finally adopt technical solutions. Make sure you are there to pick up on that level of consumer literacy.
5. Manage expectations
Your customers understand that life is different now. They are generally empathetic to disruptions that are beyond the control of the business. But what they won't tolerate is a lack of transparency or open communications.
Be forthcoming about any disruptions to service or your supply chain that might affect their orders with you. Let them know how new health regulations have disrupted the ways they're used to working with you, but then offer them alternative ways to keep your relationship going.
6. Monitor for campaign effectiveness
With such a high-level emphasis on digital promotions, there's going to be a learning curve here, and some trial and error. Pay special attention to what marketing campaigns are working well for your business and which ones seem to be missing the mark. Also do so, as best you can, with the campaigns your competitors are launching.
Let's sum this up
Digital marketing is now more relevant than ever. Start creating your new marketing strategies with that notion firmly in mind.
Have a plan that addresses concerns of employees, vendors and partners, and customers.
Don't off as too promotional during a sensitive time, when customer are looking for helpful information and reassurance.
Ramp up your digital marketing efforts, and ensure you can communicate with customers on the devices and channels they live on; be ready to address service issues on those channels as well.
Invest in building up digital experiences for them: That is the future, and your marketing needs to keep pace.
And, finally, monitor your campaign efforts and pay special attention to what is working (for you and for others).
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Reopening during and after the pandemic is fraught with challenges and laden with opportunities. For marketers, it's an ideal time to take advantage of new marketing and communications approaches to differentiate your brand for the "new normal" in your industry.
Brushing up on your Instagram SEO skills can give your reach, discoverability, and engagement on Instagram a serious boost.
The fact is that many of the techniques you use to optimize your SEO on the web can be applied to improve your content and profile’s discovery on Instagram!
From hashtags to alt text, we explain how to take on an SEO mindset on Instagram and why this can help increase your discoverability.
Instagram SEO #1: Optimize Your Instagram Profile for Search
As part of the Explore page, Instagram Search is the directory to every Instagram account on the app.
Just like you would type a search term into Google, you can use the search bar on the top of the Explore page to find and discover accounts, hashtags, and locations.
But how does Instagram decide which search results to display?
According to Instagram, the search results you see are based on a variety of factors, including the people you follow, who you’re connected to, and what photos and videos you like on Instagram.
But they’re also based on keywords!
Just like Google, when you search for a keyword on Instagram (like, say, “social media scheduler”), Instagram sorts through millions of accounts to find the most useful, relevant results for what you’re looking for – aka accounts that contain that keyword.
So it’s totally possible to show up for specific keywords in Instagram Search! You just need to optimize your profile for those keywords. Here’s how:
Your Name & Username
If you’re hoping to rank for a keyword like “candle,” it’s a good idea to incorporate that keyword into both your name and username – both are searchable on Instagram.
Of course, this isn’t always going to work, especially when it comes to your username.
Take, for example, the female-owned candle company Otherland. Their username (@otherlandco) doesn’t contain the keyword “candle” in the same way that Lululemon’s username (@lululemon) doesn’t contain the keyword “yoga pants.”
Luckily, the name field in your Instagram bio is also searchable, and completely customizable and separate to your username. So you can change it to words that highlight what your Instagram profile or business is about.
This is a great way to improve your chances of appearing in the top results if anyone searches for your target keywords!
Just head over your profile and tap “Edit Profile” to change the Name field in your profile.
Check out how Later does this! While our username (@latermedia) doesn’t contain the keyword “social media scheduler,” our name does.
Your Instagram Bio
Just like your Name field, your bio should be optimized with keywords for your brand and business.
You can even add in clickable hashtags into your bio to boost your chances of appearing not just in the search results for your account, but also if someone searches for the hashtag too!
See how health and beauty brand Golde has included keywords like “superfood,” “health,” and “beauty” in the first line of their bio:
This isn’t just a great way to let your new followers know what your brand is about. Instagram also “crawls” bios to gather more context and determine what an account is all about.
Instagram SEO #2: Treat Hashtags Like Keywords
Using relevant, targeted hashtags on your posts and stories is still one of the best ways to get discovered by new audiences on Instagram. And this can translate into more engagement, more followers, and more customers for your business.
To draw a comparison, the effect that Instagram hashtags have on boosting discoverability is a lot like how keywords can improve your SEO (search engine optimization).
If you’re trying to rank for a keyword on Google (like “best acai bowls” or “Toronto salsa class”), you need to create content that’s optimized for that keyword on your blog or website. How else are people going to find you?
If you have a public Instagram account and add a hashtag to a post, that post will be visible on the corresponding hashtag’s results page.
And since hashtags are used with the intent to discover new content, using the “right” hashtags can put you in front of your target audience, even if they haven’t connected with you before.
But hashtags have plenty of uses beyond improving your discoverability. You can use them for community-building, sourcing user-generated content (UGC), running campaigns, researching your audience, and more.
That’s why it’s so important to have a clear and well-crafted hashtag strategy – without one, you could be missing out on opportunities to optimize your account and drive more engagement and followers.
What you don’t see is all the behind-the-scenes work to organize and sort our hashtags, find new relevant hashtags, and track how they’re performing. But that’s one of the most important parts of nailing your strategy!
Remember: Your Instagram hashtag strategy doesn’t have to be overly complex. What’s most important is that you test and track your efforts so you can see what’s working and what isn’t.
Ready to get started? Watch our video where we’re sharing everything you need to know about Instagram hashtags in 2020.
Instagram SEO #3: Write Descriptive Captions
While Instagram posts are only searchable via hashtags and location tags, there are other ways to increase your content’s discoverability on the Instagram Explore page – like by writing relevant, descriptive captions.
But before we dive into how, let’s take a moment to talk about how the Explore page works.
Like with your Instagram feed, Instagram has an Explore page algorithm that is constantly learning from your behaviors on the app (like what accounts you follow and what posts you like and comment on) to determine what content you’ll enjoy most.
That’s why your Explore page looks completely different from your best friend’s Explore page – it’s specifically tailored to what you’ve already shown an interest in on Instagram (along with other factors like the accounts you follow, your location, and how recently a piece of content was posted).
So how does this tie back to captions?
Well, Instagram recently dished on how they uses machine learning to determine what content to display on the Explore page. Unsurprisingly, we learned that when making content recommendations on Explore, it focuses on identifying “the most relevant accounts based on individual interests,” rather than searching for individual posts.
In other words, if you’ve shown an interest in latte art, Instagram will take that as a cue to deliver more content from accounts that often post about latte art.
But how does Instagram know when an account is latte art-related… or anything-related for that matter?
According to Instagram, they identify topically similar accounts by using a machine learning method known as “word embedding.”
Basically, what this means is Instagram looks at keywords that are used on accounts to determine how relevant they are to one another. And while some of those keywords come from an account’s name, username, and bio (as we discussed earlier), they also come from the captions you write.
In other words, when you write captions that are descriptive of your business or industry, Instagram will pick up on that and lump you in with topically similar accounts.
This is a somewhat simplified explanation of how Instagram uses AI to choose content for your Explore page, but the main point is this: by using relevant, descriptive keywords in your Instagram captions, you’re more likely to appear on the Explore page for users who have previously expressed an interest in topics related to those keywords.
Looking for more tips on how to plan your Instagram content? Don’t forget to sign up for our free How to Create an Instagram Content Plan workshop with Puno!
Instagram SEO #4: Create Your Own Alternative Text
Instagram alt text is a new-ish feature that allows you to write custom alternative text so you can add a richer description of your photos.
And while the feature was mainly designed for Instagram users who have visual impairments, it can also be used for SEO.
At the moment, Instagram creates automatic alternative text so you can hear descriptions of photos through your screen reader.
The feature uses object recognition technology to generate a description of photos for screen readers so you can hear a list of items that photos may contain as you browse the app.
But you can also create custom alternative text when you upload a photo to create a clearer description of what your post is about! Here’s how to do it:
To see and edit alt text for a photo before you post it on Instagram, tap Advanced Settings at the bottom of the screen before posting.
Next, tap Write Alt Text.
Now, simply write your alt text in the box and tap Done!
To change the alt text of a photo after you’ve already posted it on Instagram, go to the photo, tap the ellipsis button, and tap Edit.
Next, tap Edit Alt Text in the bottom right.
Now, simply write the alt text in the box and tap Done.
Instagram SEO #5: Get Tagged
So far we’ve discussed how you can optimize your Instagram profile and content for search and discovery. But there’s another factor that can help drive discovery of your profile on Instagram: tags and mentions.
Although much harder to control, tags and mentions on Instagram are a lot like backlinks on the web.
When someone tags your account in one of their posts or stories, other users who see that post can click through to your profile, which is a great way to drive discovery.
There are a few ways to improve your chances of getting tagged in other people’s posts – but by far the most effective way is to simply create great content that others want to share!
For example, a popular trend in 2020 is users sharing other users’ Instagram posts to their Instagram Stories. Posts like these become clickable stickers, creating a direct link back to the original Instagram post.
Plus, the original poster’s username will be clearly displayed, which is great for fairly crediting the contributors of user-generated content (UGC).
Getting tagged and mentioned is also like a vote of confidence – it tells Instagram that your content is valued and people are interested in it. So it could benefit how you appear on the Explore page or people’s home feeds.
If you can find a way to get more tags and mentions on Instagram, you’ll be well on your way to driving more traffic to your profile and content!
Instagram SEO #6: Track Your Instagram Reach
Wondering if your Instagram SEO efforts are panning out? Then you may want to check your Instagram analytics!
Once you upgrade to a business profile or creator account on Instagram, you can use Instagram Insights to learn more about your followers and the people interacting with your business on Instagram.
To see your Post Insights, open a post on Instagram and tap the View Insights button beneath it.
Now scroll down to the Discovery section.
Here you’ll find a set of insights around how many people saw your content and where they found it, including from their feed (if they’re a follower), hashtags, the Explore page, and “Other” (the “Other” category includes shares, saves, tags, mentions, and notifications).
Using this data, you can quickly determine how optimized your content is for discovery.
Another place to check is your Instagram Insights, which can be accessed directly from your profile.
In the Activity tab, you’ll find data around Discovery (including your overall reach and impressions in the past week) and Interactions, which highlights the number of profile visits you received.
If you’re looking for more insights, you may want to check out Later’s Instagram Analytics, which gives you all the Instagram metrics you know and love from the Instagram app, plus more data in an easy-to-use interface on your desktop!
You’ll also get up to 3 months’ worth of Instagram Stories analytics using Later, instead of just 2 weeks worth of data in the Instagram app.
This makes it a lot easier to discover trends in your content and account’s discovery!
It can be really helpful to think about Instagram SEO when optimizing your account for discovery!
Not only do many SEO concepts apply to Instagram (like keywords and profile optimization), but it can also help you create a more organized and thoughtful content strategy.
It's no secret that as soon as the COVID-19 pandemic began, everything changed. Unlike crises of the past, there's no clear sense of when we all get back to normal. And, indeed, what that "normal" even looks like.
But while marketers are rapidly adapting and evolving their approach to address the impact of the pandemic, what is clear is that the fundamentals and intentions of breakthrough experience design remain the same: It needs to engage. It needs to be powerful. It needs to inspire action.
Like the world-class brands that create them, the best experiences—live, digital, or hybrid—are designed and executed with a clear purpose. Maintaining laser focus on that purpose is key to a successful experience and influencing customer behavior.
A Core Framework
Of course, creating rich, on-brand and purposeful experiences that move people to action is no easy task. Applying a core framework allows for the most important elements to be addressed:
Agenda and content structure. Collaborate on a multitouch content strategy focused on agility, flexibility, and a capacity for growth—one that considers the long tail of the content lifecycle and has the capability to provide sessions on-demand for a more customized experience.
Quality production. In the fight for attention, production value is a critical consideration as we design and develop assorted content types, including "broadcast quality" livestreaming, fluid and vibrant motion graphics, and thoughtful and engaging interstitials.
Inclusive of interactive. Designing and delivering interactive elements is crucial to establishing a value exchange between the brand and audience: A robust feature set is necessary to allow for one-to-one expert meetings, peer learning, interactive demos, digital engagements, and moments of fun.
Once that framework is established, focus can shift to the content narrative for the experience.
A Content Narrative & Digital Design Principles
Much like traditional storytelling, the content approach can be broken into three parts:
Phase I includes big brand and "wow" entry moments with landing spaces that ensure personalized journeys are easily crafted.
Phase II is where the primary content is delivered. Brand-led messages from executive goal-setting to product-focused presentations mixed with conversations between external speakers and sponsors both live and simu-live. This content is serialized to drive engagement and relevance.
Phase III is a personalized call to action, sponsor and sales integration through serialized content tracks, qualified leads, data capture and CRM integration.
Journey-planning. Digital and remote experiences are not bound by the usual constraints of in-person experiences. Accordingly, brands need to invest strategically to create clear and compelling journeys for their audiences throughout the audience experience. Brands that don't run the risk of short attention spans' causing audience abandonment, missed KPIs, and damage to brand reputation.
Moments of unity. The recent restrictions on communal gatherings and socializing have created more of a desire to connect with people and audiences than ever before. By creating multiple must-see moments of connection within the experience, these become shared gathering points amid fluid journeys.
Serialized stories. If the story and content are compelling enough, people will continue to return. Through "chapterized" content, we can create engaging story arcs that fit expectations, learning styles, and behaviors of unique visitors.
Tailored connections. Catering to individual members of the audience and their needs makes the experience that much more memorable and compelling. This can be supported via curated chat, as well as support and service at each touchpoint with fit-for-purpose content and technology.
The needs of audiences, businesses, and brands have fundamentally changed—and so too has the role of events and experiences in that relationship. Understanding and prioritizing how to come back to the market is an essential consideration.
The difference in physical engagement requires a change in format, delivery, and structure. It will also require more time for planning, coordinating, oversight, and collaboration than ever before.
Much of the content that was relevant just a few months ago is no longer applicable or appropriate moving forward. Maintaining relevance and context with your message and materials is critical.
The opportunity to strengthen experiential programs isn't about digital or physical, it's about being human. Designing and delivering our experiences with a sense of empathy and consideration is paramount.
