Businesses, DO NOT GO DARK on your social media when there are impending emergencies happening, like for instance, a hurricane coming (like Florida is experiencing right now.)
In fact, sometimes, these are the best times to engage with your followers, get involved with your community, and become a RESOURCE for them!
I’m going to share examples of how you can do that so that you can plan in advance, or if you’re in Florida, you can execute any of these right now.
Some industries have built-in content when it comes to hurricane preparation, like real estate, mortgage, insurance, even restaurants.
For instance, as a real estate agent, you can post:
- Graphics with hurricane preparation kit lists
- Live videos or video demonstrations of how to prepare your home or certain parts of a home (like a pool) for a hurricane
- Realtime, live updates on where to find plywood or other supplies
- What else you can do to prepare like take photos of important items around your house
- Photos of evacuation zones (all public record)
- Anything that has to do with securing your home or property
- What YOU’RE DOING to prepare yourself and your family and/or your staff!
You can post anything hurricane-related in any field related to your industry too.
Some examples I’ve seen are:
When water runs out, some breweries began offering bottled water with their branding on it. Not only is this a great way to get involved in the community and help, but it’s great social content too (and you’ll get TV coverage for it!)
Whatever business you’re in, if you find a way to help in the community, filling or offering sandbags, offering free plywood if you’re a construction company, etc. use this as social content also!
You can update people on the hours of operation for your business via social media yes, and you should, but also if you are a brick and mortar, maybe you’re boarding up, or if (like near me), you’re located on a Main Street, the whole Main Street is boarded up. THAT’S VISUAL! Keep an eye out for visual elements from your town that you can post on social media.
If you know of other businesses that are helping or offering something, post about that! Social content does not have to be just about YOU. It’s there to be an additional way for you to SERVE.
BEFORE THE STORM
Before anything happens, and if you want to get into the meme game, post your funny memes! Those WILL get shared, as people tend to laugh through the tears and connect in situations like these.
AFTER THE STORM
But, when it’s over, always gauge the situation before you make light of it. If it’s a terrible situation, as a business, you might want to lay off the memes afterward. However, if it was a lot of hype and very little damage and more importantly, no one got hurt – let the memes fly!
After the storm, you can post:
-Updates about your business and how it fared in the storm
-Updates on hours
-If you spot a need within your neighborhood that you can fill, FILL IT! And take photos and post about it!
-If you see damage, take photos and share those
-If something worked well for you that you did to prepare or you found a life hack that worked, let people know so they can use that information too
How to create this content:
Reels:
- Find trending sounds to show the behind the scenes process of you preparing
- Find trending sounds for you to put helpful tips on the screen
Text:
- ASK QUESTIONS! Like this: https://www.facebook.com/WWOJ99.1/posts/pfbid02Kyrm5PBkgMU8gt5cmQUokmwz3Jkm5mUUg99grmfE1x8rswQ7AfLnxSHfAg652qjql
- Polls
- Questions about what their must-haves are
- Questions about boarding up or pets
Photos/Memes/Graphics with lists or tips
Here’s a resort giving updates: https://www.instagram.com/p/Ci-YKaeMu6x/?fbclid=IwAR2j6dN528bRmNshcElKYEzTcjSElqJa3Po12IYGesO_t_WLPn7fOsDOto8
And I’ll never forget this one from when I worked in news during Hurricane Harvey, this mattress store owner became famous for the way he became an asset to his community by offering shelter. You may have even heard of him, too. Mattress Mack!
- So, make sure you’re following the accounts of TV News, city and county officials, and emergency officials so you can not only plan, but see if there is any information that you could pass along that relates to you in any way.
- Make sure that you have a social plan for your business, brainstorm content that would be helpful for your people and think about ways you can help your community
- Do not go dark!
The point is: THIS IS WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT ONLINE. You will be going through something with your community. You’re in this together! So get into the conversation. Talk to your people. Find out what they need. Interact. Help your community. Laugh with them. Cry with them.
And build your own online community.