By Jaci Schreckengost

Business etiquette in 2020, especially during the pandemic, looks different than it ever has before. 

As the world, businesses, and people change, so do the expectations of business etiquette. 

Here are some ways to make sure you’re meeting the 2020 expectations. 

Be authentic

Your company’s brand identity is often one of the first ways a client sees what your company does and cares about. 

It’s important that when they see this, they know you care about them. Customers want to feel valued and treated with respect and honesty. 

Right now, most people understand the issues that you or your company are going through. 

Read also: Connecting with Customers During COVID

Be respectful

There are a number of vital conversations happening in 2020. You may encounter a situation where you feel uncomfortable or uneducated about something. 

It’s really important to listen and give everyone the same respect you expect to receive. If you don’t know something that you would like to know, it’s okay to say so, and learn more about the topic on your own or from the other person, but only if they offer. 

Whether you’re the CEO or the intern, you should feel you receive the same amount of respect from those around you. Respect is key to a healthy environment between coworkers and between the client and company. 

Communicate clearly (and frequently) 

Another way customers, coworkers, and other people know you care is through effective communication. 

Since most people are working away from each other and have extra duties to manage right now, it’s important to communicate with intention. 

Whether on social media, through a messaging system your team uses, or via email it’s important to communicate well. Make sure you’re making clear points, asking any follow-up questions you may have, and providing feedback that is motivating and respectful. 

See how 270M can help you improve your social media presence. 

Relax

Of course, you know your team and clients better than anyone, but in many cases it’s safe to be a little more laidback than before. 

For most companies, you probably shouldn’t be throwing curse words around like they’re commas, but in terms of communication and attire, it’s okay to relax a bit. 

It’s okay to throw in an emoji or a GIF in an email, when appropriate. If you’re heading out for Friday afternoon or sending a happy birthday email, don’t be afraid to include the party horn emoji. 

Check out 270M’s digital media services here. 

Business etiquette is changing and will continue to — but we can always do our best to learn and adapt. 

 

By Jaci Schreckengost

Pinterest is a great way to reach customers who are researching products and planning events. 

Maybe you’ve seen the Pinterest logo on other websites and wondered if your business should be on Pinterest, too. 

There are lots of reasons why Pinterest could be a great addition to your social media plan, but first, we’ll cover the basics. 

What is Pinterest? 

Pinterest is a social media platform that allows you to create or share pins, which are pictures, graphics, or videos with captions and usually a link. These pins can be saved to boards, which are typically organized and named by what you save in them. 

On our Pinterest, you can see that we have a board for each of our brand’s three keywords: live, work, and create. 

This, of course, leads me into the first reason why Pinterest can be beneficial for your business. 

Branding

Pinterest is another great place to show off the branding for your business. Whether you use your own content to create pins, or share pins that match your brand, it’s a great way to show customers your brand. 

Like 270M’s Pinterest boards, you can create boards with keywords or other topics relevant to your business. 

Read also: Who Needs Social Media Agencies? Every Business Does. 

Show off your products 

A great way to use Pinterest is to show off your products. Good questions to ask yourself are: What products could I show on Pinterest? How could I successfully show these products to potential customers? 

According to Pinterest, “90% of weekly Pinners make purchase decisions on Pinterest.” By putting your products on the site, you’re increasing the chance that your products will be considered by these consumers. 

You can also add tags to your posts to make sure they get into the feed of people who are interested in your products. 

Reach a new audience 

According to Pinterest, “more than 367 million people use Pinterest every month.” This platform will allow you to reach hundreds of millions of people across age groups, around the world. 

People use Pinterest when planning for events, shopping, dreaming, building a house, starting a DIY project — and a million other reasons. Including your products on the social media platform could get your product into the hands of new customers. 

There’s something on Pinterest for everyone, so why not give it a try? 

270M’s social media services, including Pinterest, are available here. 

By Jaci Schreckengost

Newsletters are a great way to reach your customers and give them information they need to know. 

Maybe your business has been sending out eblasts, but getting little to no engagement on them. Or, maybe, you’re wondering why you should send out email marketing in the first place. 

Either way, there are a few important things we think you should know about making one that customers will want to engage with. 

Know your audience

It’s important to make sure you know who is going to be interacting with your newsletter. For example, if your customers are interested in skincare, providing them with links and information about skiing probably won’t drive the best engagement. 

While it’s great to add in information you think they’d like, you need to know where to draw the line. It’s important to include things your customers care about. 

Low engagement could be due to outdated or irrelevant information that your customers feel like doesn’t apply to them. 

Read also: Why Do I Need a Website? 

Engagement

It’s important to create visible opportunities for your customers to engage with your email marketing. This, of course, will look different in every eblast. 

You can include links to relevant information, press mentions of your brand, blog posts from your brand’s blog, and more. If you have a sale going on, include a bit about it. 

Make sure your call-to-action, or CTA, is clear. It’s important to ask yourself what you want your audience to get from the newsletter. Do you want them to shop? Read articles? Learn new information that just came out about your products? Watch a video? Like your Instagram page? 

It’s okay if you answered yes to more than one of these, or have others that aren’t listed. These are just examples. The important part is to make sure each CTA is clear and easy for your readers to access. 

Engage by Giving Back 

Giving back to the community is a great way to get your customers to engage. If your brand itself needs help and is closed or limited due to COVID, you could give your customers the option to purchase gift cards. This allows them to support your business now and purchase the things they want later. 

The newsletter could also have links to nonprofit organizations that are helping better the world around us. These could be directly linked to their website, or you could advertise that your business is donating a portion of profits to nonprofits. 

Read also: Connecting with Customers During COVID

Be willing to revise 

Sometimes, even with changes, you may not see the engagement you want. If this happens, it’s important to take a look, again, at your audience and your content and try something new. 

Your audience changes all the time, along with the world around us. Make sure you’re keeping up with new trends, new information, and trying new things in your newsletter. 

Email marketing is a great way to get information out to your clients — but it’s important that the information is relevant, helpful, and interesting. 

You can find out about all of 270M’s digital marketing services here. 

 

By Jaci Schreckengost

As TikTok continues to gain popularity as a new social media platform, many businesses and agencies are learning how to maneuver it. 

What is TikTok?

For those unfamiliar with the platform, TikTok is a video-sharing platform where users can post dances, lip syncs, speeches, jokes, their plant inventories, rants, their pets, and just about anything else you can think of — and even more that people haven’t thought of yet. 

One popular way brands are engaging with their audiences is through hashtag challenges. In these, the brands provide a hashtag, and usually an example, and then the audience can create their own videos in response to the hashtag. 

According to AppTrace, TikTok is the 12th most popular app globally, putting it in the top one percent of apps in the world. As it increases in popularity, of course, people are curious about advertising opportunities. 

Can I advertise on TikTok?

As of June 19, 2020, individuals and businesses in the United States are not eligible to create self-service ads yet. If your business is located elsewhere, you can find out if TikTok ads are available in your country by choosing it from the drop down menu on the TikTok Ads website. 

If ads are not yet available in your area, you have the option to enter your contact information to receive updates when more information is available. 

Read also: Who Needs Social Media Agencies? Every Business Does.

How to advertise on TikTok

On TikTok, ads are placed throughout content and in the Discover tab. Currently, there is a scrolling bar at the top of the Discover tab with various advertisements, including hashtags, brands, live events, and more. When creating an ad, the advertiser has a say in where the ad is placed. 

Many of the current campaigns on TikTok seem to include a hashtag for users to interact with. For example, Universal used #FindYourMagic to gain views. Users were able to show how they interpreted the hashtag, which resulted in the brand’s hashtag trending on the platform. 

Many are also using influencers to advertise on TikTok. While this may not be directly through the platform, influencers, of course, are incredibly important to advertising. 

Check out 270M’s influencer marketing services. 

Success stories

TikTok sites Universal Studios as one of its advertising success stories so far. TikTok reported that Universal gained over 11,000 followers in just six days on the platform. 

So far, there are few companies advertising on TikTok. Those that are advertising, however, are large businesses, such as Guess, Colgate, and Kia. 

Clearly, there is an opportunity for advertising success on this platform. 

As the TikTok ad market continues to grow, smaller businesses in more regions will have the ability to share their business on the platform. 

Check out all of 270M’s social media marketing services. 

By Jaci Schreckengost

A website, many times, is one of the first places a customer visits. 

If a customer finds your social media pages first, they will likely look for the website next. A website is a place to house information about your business, your products, and more. 

Isn’t it expensive?

While it’s not cheap to set up a website, it’s not a recurring fee. It’s an infrequent investment that sets you up for long-term success. 

Isn’t a Facebook business page enough? 

The simple answer is: no. 

While a Facebook business page is a good start, your business is still missing a vital component in our digital world. 

There is so much more information that can be housed in a website that is missing out on a business page. This includes your brand identity, important information about your company, a way to directly shop from your website, and more. 

Extra information 

A website can provide information that other social pages cannot. 

The about us page can serve as a great resource for your customers. This can allow them to find out more about you, your business, and your products. If you include a piece about the history of your business, viewers can really understand your company better. This may not seem like much, but consumers are increasingly conscious about where they’re spending their money. 

On a website, customers can integrate the things that are important to their business. These could include their sustainability policy, how they give back to the community, or other important issues to them.

During unexpected events, like COVID, websites provide an easy way to update your customers. Your customers can find updated store hours, shipping policy, and other important information that may have temporarily changed. 

Read also: Connecting with Customers During COVID

Answer questions ahead of time 

Having a Q&A or FAQ section can help save time for your customer service team — and for your customers. Instead of having to wait for an answer, customers can find their answers on the website immediately. 

Show off your work

A website is a great place to show off the incredible work that your team does. For example, with just a few clicks, visitors can see 270M’s clients.  When you click on these links, they take you to each of the clients’ websites. 

Your website is one of the main ways your clients access and understand your business.

Find out more about launching a website with 270M’s digital media services. 

By Jaci Schreckengost

During COVID, it’s more important than ever to let your customers know you truly care about them. 

A study from Accenture found 64 percent of consumers in the United States say “a company’s ethical values and authenticity” are components they factor in before making a purchase. In addition, 42 percent of U.S. “consumers have stopped doing business with a company because of its words or actions about a social issue.” 

Below are some ways to make sure your clients know you really care about them. 

Engage with customers (more) on social media 

Though it may seem intuitive, social media is a great way to connect with your customers, clients, and supporters during this time. Whether you’re commenting on their posts or sharing helpful resources, there are small ways to make big impacts on your customers. 

It is important to make sure you’re only sharing informational and helpful resources. You don’t want to overwhelm your followers with pieces that could simply make them feel more anxious about the situation. 

Host virtual events 

If you were supposed to have an in-person event, or even if you just want to connect with your followers, a virtual event is a great way to do that. Whether it’s a Happy Hour on a weekend evening or a more professional lunch meeting to catch up, this is a great way to invite your followers to participate in conversations about the brand, themselves, and your products. 

Create opportunities for your followers to help

This, of course, will differ based on the current status of your business. Below are different ways to help, no matter what situation your business is in currently. 

If your business itself needs support, give your customers the opportunity to purchase gift cards to use when your business is open again later. This is a great way to support your own business, while giving your customers the chance to stock up on their favorite products when the business is open again. 

If you still have the opportunity to make sales, elect that a percentage of your sales go toward a nonprofit organization that is supporting the community. You can select one nonprofit, or multiple. Choosing multiple would let the customer pick the nonprofit their percentage goes to when they are checking out. This can make the experience feel a bit more personal. For example, New Highs is donating 30% of all sales through June 30, 2020, to Loveland Foundation to support communities of color in unique and powerful ways. 

A great way for anyone to help, regardless of whether or not your business is open, is to support a nonprofit. You can select a nonprofit for your followers to donate to if they have the ability. 

Read also: Quarantine, Remote, Repeat

Show (more) appreciation 

Whether they’re still buying from your store like normal, or supporting the business by purchasing gift cards, it’s important to show customers even more gratitude than normal. Of course, this applies all the time, but right now, it’s important to be sure they know. Whether it’s sharing an Instagram story, Retweeting a client, or sending a message to them to thank them for a purchase, each shows you care. 

Consumers want to make sure the companies they support care about them and the world around them. 

270M’s social media services are a great way to help with this. Check out all of our services here. 

By Jaci Schreckengost

Instagram rolled out four new story features for businesses to utilize during COVID-19 — and possibly beyond.

As they said in their April 15, 2020, post, “Small businesses are an important part of our community, and many are facing immense challenges during the COVID‑19 crisis.” In response to this, they are creating features to help out. 

Here are the four features Instagram has created to help boost sales during this time. 

Share your favorite businesses

The first feature is a sticker that anyone can use to show support of their favorite small business. It shows a blue ombre shopping bag with a heart in it, with the ability to tag your favorite small business. This helps benefit local companies, as they are able to increase their audience without actually marketing themselves. While companies should not rely solely on this for marketing purposes, it is helpful during this time of need.

Check out 270M’s Instagram to see some of our clients and favorite companies.

Food delivery through IG stories 

For businesses with food services, Instagram created the option for customers to order through a third-party service right from an Instagram story. When you begin setting up the sticker, you’ll be able to choose what food delivery service you would like to have your customers order through. You can choose from Caviar, ChowNow, delivery.com, DoorDash, Grubhub, Postmates, Seamless, Toast, or UberEats, depending on what works best for your business and area of the country. Customers can then click on the Order button, which will then direct them to the third-party app, and then allow them to order from the restaurant.

This is a great way to promote your restaurant, even when customers can’t come in and sit down. 

Donate to nonprofits

If your organization is a nonprofit or a nonprofit is closely related to your company, you can add a donate button to your Instagram stories. This allows clients, fans, and followers to donate right to your cause, or a cause closely related, from the Instagram story. When you insert the donate sticker, Instagram gives you an extensive list of nonprofits, with ones suggested for the viewer at the top. Users can also search for their favorite nonprofit with the search feature. 

Buy now, shop later 

The fourth feature to benefit companies during COVID is the gift card Instagram story feature. With this, businesses can choose from third party vendors (Gift Up!, Kabbage, LoyLap, Raise, Rise.ai, Square, Toast, or Yiftee) to make gift cards available for customers to purchase. This helps businesses that are seeing less income during this time still make money. 

While personal accounts only have access to the donation and support small businesses, consumers can still use these two to help out their favorite small businesses and nonprofits during this time. These are all accessible in the stickers section while editing an Instagram story post. 

These are just a few of the features that 270M utilizes in their services for brands. Check out more of our social media services here.