Things seem to change on a daily basis right now. With regulations that change, causing business closures and openings, people are having a hard time keeping up with their favorite businesses. They are unsure whether businesses are closed, open, or operating on a modified basis. As a business owner, there are several ways you can combat customer confusion and provide the latest information for your customers and clients.

COVID-19 Updates on your website

If you have a website, have a tab at the top that is for COVID-19 updates.

Make sure that when something changes, you update that page immediately so people can trust that information is the most accurate. Your customers want to feel safe and comfortable interacting with you, so include these tips on your COVID-19 updates page to put their minds at ease. If you have adjusted your hours, be sure to include those. If you have enhanced cleaning procedures or social distancing protocols in place, list those.

When you make a COVID update, include the date so people can see when your last update was to help ensure accuracy. When you go back to normal operation, you don’t want people still thinking you are operating at limited capacity. Dating your content will show people that they are interacting with someone who regularly provides updates to their customers.

People are spending a lot of time online, so make sure your social media is up to date.

You can change your hours temporarily on Yelp and on Facebook. You can easily change your hours on your Google My Business listing. Make sure that anywhere your hours appear online, they reflect the hours that you are open so that people can support you when you are open.

COVID-19 Updates on Facebook

Create a COVID-19 Update post for Facebook and pin it to the top of your page. Don’t know how to pin a post? Learn how here.  Be sure to post your hours with your daily posts encouraging people to shop or eat with you. Don’t worry about being repetitive because some people will not go to your page to see your pinned post. You can copy and paste from your computer or phone at the end of every post with your hours and COVID-19 protocols that people should know about. This is very helpful for your customers.

COVID -19 Updates on Instagram

You cannot pin a post on Instagram, but you can edit your bio with your COVID-19 updates and hours of operation. If you have a COVID-19 update page on your website, link to that in your Instagram bio.

COVID-19 Updates on Cover Photo

You can also update your cover photo on Facebook and on your Google My Business listing with COVID-19 updates. On that photo or graphic, include an overlay with the information you want your customers to know, like updated hours or mask mandates.

The important thing is to make everything as easy as possible for the end user: your customer or client. Don’t make them look all over social media and your website to find out what they want to know. Every you create a post or create content, think about what your customers want to know. It’s not always about what you want them to know. I recommend keeping track of the changes that you make that are COVID-specific (like to your temporary hours) in a note or Word document somewhere, so that when you need to make changes, you remember all the places you made updates. If you have questions about COVID-19 Updates pages, Instagram bios, or pinning Facebook posts, call DQB Strategies at (512) 285-6196 to receive social media coaching.