Businesses and individuals alike are feeling the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although self-isolation and remote working practices are the norm, we're more connected than ever, as the current crisis is a shared experience for everyone. This means that your actions (or lack of action) as a business leader will be widely felt.
One of the ways a business needs to address the current situation is through relevant content. You need to keep your employees and customers informed of your business status, but you should also consider offering wellness content in some form.
You can offer wellness content even if your business is not related to health or wellness in general. It would serve your customers and your business for you to reach out and let people know that you're supportive during a difficult time.
Reasons to offer wellness content
Offering wellness content may seem like extra work without clear outcomes, but there are several ways that such content can help people and your business over time. Let's explore compelling reasons why you should create and publish wellness material.
1. To improve employee well-being
The people who make up the lifeblood of your business certainly need reassurance and motivation during times of uncertainty. When you create wellness content, you offer a powerful way to help your employees.
Such content may also affect how they view your business and boost their loyalty to their workplace. BuzzSumo recently gave all its employees a day off for their mental health. The users of this platform were requested to permit a delay in support responses until the employees returned to work. This is a brilliant example of a business taking its employees' mental health seriously.
In a similar way, adding wellness content to your internal communication platforms can signal appreciation and support. In my own business that I run with other founders, we hold monthly town halls, during which we've addressed concerns and answered questions from our employees.
Such efforts can go a long way and even improve relationships between teams and individuals in your organization.
2. To reassure your audience
Another important reason to create wellness content is to reassure your customers that you still support them. If your situation doesn't permit that, it's good practice to inform them that you're doing your best. It would be starkly noticeable if a business did not mention the current pandemic at all in its emails and websites.
Adding wellness content or even just announcements about your current status and availability will make a difference. If you have reduced hours or capacity, inform your customers of this through email or on your website. This will give them more realistic expectations, and the availability and transparency of information shows care for your customers.
3. To build trust and long-term relationships
Creating supportive and meaningful content during a challenging period can lead to greater trust and long-term relationships with customers. One of the hardest but most important things you can do as a company is to convince your audience to trust your business.
People don't believe marketing content easily. Studies show that 71% of people don't trust sponsored ads, 69% don't trust advertisements, and 65% don't care for press releases. It takes a long time and consistent effort of using user-generated content, reviews, social proof apps, and other strategies to gain your audience's trust. Providing wellness content is one effective way to earn goodwill and trust during a critical time.
Ways to offer meaningful wellness content
We've looked at the reasons why you ought to offer wellness content for its employees and customers. But what form can this content take? What's the scope of wellness that you should cover? The following tips will help you come up with appropriate ways to support your team's and customers' well-being during a time of uncertainty.
1. Grow a community.
One powerful strategy is to nurture your audience into loyal and engaged brand community members. In the current climate of isolation and remote work, community activities will hold a special appeal.
You can foster a community for your brand by building a membership site. This is where you can offer gated wellness material that users can access by just signing in. On your membership site, you can offer videos, blog posts and audio material, but the most helpful element would be a discussion board where users can talk to each other.
Creating a space for people to share thoughts or have discussions is also a good idea for your employees. In our business, we create Slack channels for non-work topics so that team members can connect easily.
2. Offer training and wellness courses.
For your own employees, you have the opportunity to provide them with training and wellness courses online. Learning opportunities and skill-building courses will allow them to make great use of their time, developing their personal and professional skills. These skills may benefit your company and will certainly boost your employees' confidence, as they'll see that you're investing in them.
Udemy and Coursera offer discount business solutions for large groups. You could even develop the educational content in-house if you have the know-how and capabilities.
3. Offer solutions to the public wherever possible.
Since the COVID-19 crisis took hold, many businesses have come forward to offer previously gated content to the public.
For example, Ahrefs made its Blogging for Business online course for free. Digital marketer Neil Patel also removed certain restrictions from his Ubersuggest tool for small businesses and individuals.
While steps like these aren't feasible for all businesses, you can use them as inspiration. If you can offer free trials, release some content for free or give discounts, you're off to a great start. Even if you're not directly offering wellness content, you're giving people the means to improve their work. This is a gesture that will be remembered and appreciated.
4. Engage more on social media.
Social media is one of the most obvious places to develop your community and engage users with content. Consider sharing helpful, uplifting content that makes sense in your situation. You can curate appropriate blog posts, videos, and podcast material and share them on your feed. You could also share news about your own business and employees to highlight the human side of your brand.
Studies show that video is highly effective for providing wellness content. What's also interesting is that 40% of millennials trust video content. It's evident that using videos to share wellness information and build relationships with your audience is one of the most effective steps you can take.
Bottom line on wellness content
While this is a difficult time for many people and businesses, it's also an opportunity to connect with your audience on a deeper level. Remember to avoid appearing opportunistic, as customers can easily spot content that's not genuine.
Provide people with helpful wellness tips by going with your strengths. Share articles or videos that are meaningful to you or simply use the tools your business already provides to support your customers.
The challenges of the pandemic can be met with positivity and long-term benefits. Use the ideas in this post to make an impact on people's lives today.