With coronavirus disease (COVID-19) spreading globally, many multi-location brands are having difficulties coordinating their response to the pandemic due to absent employees and the different measures they have to follow in different regions.
If your brand uses a location marketing tool such as PinMeTo, you have the advantage of a centralized platform, so you can more easily manage business info, social posts, and reviews and comments for all your locations within one platform.
If your brand doesn’t use a location marketing tool it’s still important to respond. The guidelines below are still valid, though doing them manually will be more time-intensive.
Here are three tips for how to manage your coronavirus response online:
Update your opening hours
Whether physical storefronts in your location have been ordered to close, or whether you’re closing them as a precaution, it’s important to update your opening hours online as soon as the decision is made.
There are many networks that publish your brand’s locations’ opening hours, some of the biggest of which are Google Maps, Facebook, Apple Maps, and Foursquare. If you aren’t using a location marketing tool, you will need to update each location on each network manually.
If you are using a location marketing service, such as Listings, you will be able to change your opening hours for one, some, or all of your locations on the platform. It is also possible to change hours by region – for example, if you need to show that all your locations in one country have closed due to public health measures in that country, the platform would allow to you do that.
Be sure to stay up-to-date with the latest directives from the regional authorities in every region your brand has locations, as non-essential business operations continue to be put on hold in areas affected by the pandemic.
Communicate your changes
In times of uncertainty, it’s important to provide clear updates to your audience. Let your social media followers know what’s happening by posting periodic updates with relevant information, or direct those who can’t visit your locations in-person to your website, or an online shop if you have one.
You can also take the chance to relay important health and safety updates from regional authorities to your audience, or remind your audience to wash their hands, avoid contact with others, and stay calm.
On Facebook, posts from Local Pages make much more of an impact than posts to your brand page, so be sure to post from Local Pages whenever possible. Location Posts is a service that lets you post to many – or all – of your Facebook locations at the same time, maximizing the reach of your posts.
Converse with your customers
In addition to updating your customers, it’s important to listen to what your customers are saying back.
While the amount of reviews you receive may decrease with reduced storefront hours, homebound people may spend more time on social media. Stay updated on the comments and mentions happening across all your social media platforms and accounts.
If you have a reputation management tool like Listen & Respond, you will be more easily able to monitor reviews, comments, and mentions across accounts and platforms.
Please stay safe, and remember to wash your hands frequently, avoid inessential gatherings, and follow any public health guidelines your local authorities have recommended. If you have any questions about how to manage your multi-location brand’s response, please get in touch and we’ll be happy to help.
