How to use digital media to recover and grow your business video transcript

Watch the video Small business disaster hub - How to use digital media to recover and grow your business to learn how digital and social media can help you recover after a disaster.

Moving businesses online and using digital and social media has helped many small businesses thrive through global pandemics and natural disasters.

Online campaigns to help regional areas recover after a disaster have driven new customers to businesses struggling to rely on local markets.

Being innovative with digital and social media can help to promote your business more widely and engage customers and specific audiences more easily.

Online business tools can also track your customer data and their buying habits.

You can use our step-by-step guide on digital and social media to help your business get back on its feet sooner following a disaster.

The first thing you need to do is decide which social media platforms best suit your business.

Think about your business type, target audience, and what you want to achieve.

You can research current social media trends and which platforms your target audience or age group is most likely to use.

Facebook is the most widely used platform worldwide covering all ages. You can sell products, advertise to target audiences and share updates.

YouTube is also widely used in Australia. It's useful for sharing 'how to' and other videos.

Instagram is a popular photo sharing site. You can post and share content for free.

LinkedIn is 'Facebook for business professionals', with most users well educated. It's useful for posting informative blogs, promoting your business activities or recruiting new staff.

Twitter is great for sharing regular short messages and promotions.

Pinterest is a photo sharing site useful for creative businesses and often used to plan future purchases.

Tik-Tok is about fun and creative content and mostly used by younger people. It's not the place for all businesses, but it can be a great place for light-hearted videos showing off products.

Snapchat can be used for promotions, quick updates or customer generated content.

The next step is to link your website to your social media pages.

This will allow customers to click through to your site, helping to boost your rankings on search engines such as Google.

Now you're ready to promote your business.

It's a good idea to develop a social media strategy with a timeline for scheduling posts.

You could also develop social media guidelines around what is posted on your site.

You should create posts and videos that will interest your customers and avoid posts that focus on hard selling.

You can encourage people to like or follow your pages to boost your audience and reach.

You could also use:

• paid advertising targeting specific audiences
• search engine marketing
• blogs and podcasts
• e-newsletters
• online sales or competitions
• online review sites
• QR codes.

The next step is to understand your customers.

You should measure how your customers interact with your business online.

This will help you target products and services and post the most relevant content on your pages.

It's important to track your results, including who your customers are, where they're from, how long they spend on your site, what they're interested in and how browsing converts into sales.

If something isn't working, try a different approach.

The last step is to stay active online

You can do this by posting useful content regularly to keep customers interested.

Encourage conversations and direct users to your website.

Respond to comments as quickly as possible, even if it's an automated reply with contact details.

Be aware of the risks of social media. Learn how to manage negative comments or media that could damage your business's reputation.

For more information on using social media in your business, visit Business Queensland and search for 'online marketing'.

Watch the video Small business disaster hub - How to use digital media to recover and grow your business.