The COVID-19 pandemic changed the business landscape almost overnight. Many local businesses have seen a dramatic drop in sales. Some have been forced to close up shop altogether. After all, when people aren’t going out, how do you keep money coming in?

Luckily, living in a no-contact world doesn’t have to mean you have no contact with customers. With a few simple tools, you can open the conversation back up and meet customers where they are—online.

Hootsuite Professional and Academy: Making social easier for small businesses

Facebook is the new coffee shop. That cafe down the street? Instagram. And I’m sure you’ve heard of TikTok, the hottest new nightclub. 

Now, more than ever, your customers are spending time in these virtual venues, and expecting businesses to do the same. While social media may seem intimidating, it’s actually an exciting opportunity to reach an unprecedented number of potential customers. 

Hootsuite makes finding, scheduling, managing, and reporting on social media content easier.

Tools you’ll get with Hootsuite Professional:

1. Up to 10 social media profiles

Manage up to 10 social media profiles in one place, all with one password.  

2. Scheduled content

Automate social media posts. Once you curate sharable content, automate it to upload during peak viewing hours.   

3. Social media analytics 

Learn what your audience enjoys. By reviewing social media analytics, you can see what type of content resonates with customers and when they’re most likely to see it.  

Learn more about Hootsuite Professional here.

Hootsuite Academy Courses:

Whether you’re looking to build your skills or take the next leap in your career, our courses and certifications will help you succeed with social media.

Foundations of Social Advocacy Training here

Learn about foundational social media literacy and engaging responsibly on personal channels.

Social Marketing Training here

Understand your audience and effectively get messaging in front of them, across social networks. 

Hootsuite Enterprise Training here

Skills and best practices to use every Hootsuite dashboard feature, including publishing at scale and tracking your results with analytics. Included in all enterprise plans

Podium Starter: Free for everyone until forever

Customers don’t want to jump through hoops to make a purchase. The more seamless the customer experience, the more customers you’ll capture from text to takeout. 

Podium tools enable you to engage with customers on their turf and create meaningful connections.

Free Tools you’ll get with Podium Starter:

1. Webchat

Engage customers on your website. Webchat makes it easy for customers to contact you quickly and conveniently. Once you respond, the chat becomes a text conversation on their phone. 

2. Messaging

Keep the conversation going. Your customers feel comfortable texting– they do it all day. By moving the conversation offline, you untether it from the internet and allow customers to respond when it’s convenient. Podium Starter comes with 750 free texts to customers monthly. 

3. Payments 

Create frictionless payments. Podium Payments allows you to send payment requests via text, completing a seamless customer experience. 
Learn more about Podium Starter here.

 Let’s face it– your business is awesome. You deserve the best chance of finding, engaging and retaining customers. By optimizing your digital presence, you have the opportunity to capture more customers and create a fun, frictionless experience from click to close.